


The Lost Prince

by The Tozier Wheeler Twins (omfgiminlovewithneeks)



Series: The Lost Prince [1]
Category: IT (2017), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Bill Denbrough Doesn't Stutter, F/F, M/M, Richie Tozier and Mike Wheeler Are Twins, Richie and Mike are Royals, do you know how difficult it is to write about 13 main/recurring characters?, there's magic in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2020-05-15 21:37:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19304311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omfgiminlovewithneeks/pseuds/The%20Tozier%20Wheeler%20Twins
Summary: “Stop!”“Catch me if you can.”The two princes were still running around the gazebo in their attempt to fight for the crown, literally. The king had let them play with his diadem, and apparently, they were having a disagreement on whose turn it was to wear it around their neck.“Mother,” his younger son whined as he tried to keep up with his brother, “make him stop!”“A prince doesn’t ask his mother to help, Mikey,” his older child snickered.“A prince doesn’t run away from his brother, Richie,” Michael scowled.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Am I writing too many stories at the same time? Definitely. Should I just focus on one at a time to make sure everything is as good as possible? That would be a good idea. Will I stop posting new fics? Nope.
> 
> Hi everyone, and welcome to _yet another_ of these. I hope you'll enjoy this chaotic mess I'm making.

The Royal Garden was filled with laughter as the king and queen watched their two princes chase each other around. This was a typical afternoon in the Kingdom of Belena, although on this particular day, the king needed this more than normal. After all, he’d had a rather stressful morning. There had been multiple rumors about another expansion plan for the Kingdom of Kolos. Kolos was a kingdom with a formidable army, but it was more famous for its assassins, as well as its king’s fascination with the dark arts. Therefore, when he’d received a message from the Ischyrus Council — the war council of five kingdoms that protected the southern land from the ambitions of Kolos — announcing the demise of one of the other kings, he’d had a feeling that a war was coming.

“Stop!”

“Catch me if you can.”

The two princes were still running around the gazebo in their attempt to fight for the crown, literally. The king had let them play with his diadem, and apparently, they were having a disagreement on whose turn it was to wear it around their neck.

“Mother,” his younger son whined as he tried to keep up with his brother, “make him stop!”

“A prince doesn’t ask his mother to help, Mikey,” his older child snickered.

“A prince doesn’t run away from his brother, Richie,” Michael scowled.

Five years ago, the king had been blessed with the greatest miracle he could ever hope for in the form of his twin sons. Despite being half a punct older than his brother, Prince Richard was often the more childish of the two, or as childish as any child could be. He was always thinking of something that would mess with everyone — especially his brother. Although a king’s job was to put the wellbeing of his people before anything else, the main reason the King of Belena fought to keep this peace was so his children would grow up in a better world than he had.

He would give anything so his children wouldn’t have to worry about anything other than whose turn it was to play with the crown. Sadly, he knew that wasn’t how the world worked.

 

* * *

 

Mike sighed as he returned the books he had to read to his father’s cabinet.

He loved being a prince, but at the same time, he hated being a prince. His father expected him to know the history of each and every kingdom that had ever interacted with Belena, and let’s just say that his kingdom had been  _ very _ friendly. Granted, it was expected of a prince to know about other kingdoms, but  _ he _ didn’t have to know everything about every kingdom there was. After all, he wasn’t even the firstborn, so he wouldn’t be the one in charge of everyone one day — although knowing Richie, his brother probably would put most things on Mike’s plate because the older prince was one of the most absent-minded people he’d ever known. The king probably thought so as well, since he was forced to learn about a bunch of kingdoms somewhere way down south who worshipped as many gods as there were stars in the sky, while other twelve-year-olds spent their days running around the meadow having fun. At least, that was what he assumed they did. Living in the castle all the time, with most people around him other than Richie being at least twice his age, he didn’t have a very good clue to what other kids did with their time when they didn’t have to stuff thousands of pages into their minds, and it wasn't like the new mage or the advisor's apprentice had time to play around either. The only thing he could use as a reference had been his time playing with his brother when they had been younger.

Speaking of his brother, part of the reason Mike was suffering right now was because the jerk had abandoned him and disappeared into thin air not long after their tutor had assigned them their tasks of the day. Also, ‘disappearing into thin air’ was  _ literally _ what Richie had done. His bloodline was one of the very few that was rumored to be  _ blessed _ by the gods. According to legend, or as Mike liked to call it, last week’s reading assignment, the sun god Belenus — the namesake of the kingdom — had blessed his great great great great great ancestor with the ability to instantly disappear and reappear at another place with a bright flash in the same way the old gods had traveled, as long as they could see the destination. That ability was usually passed down only to the first child of the king or queen who had it, right down to his father. Then something peculiar had happened — the queen had been pregnant with twins, and apparently, the gods didn’t care who came out of the womb first, because both he and Richie had inherited the ability to  _ blink _ away — something his brother used as a way to avoid ‘boring lessons’ and basically anything that didn’t interest him. If Richie had been here, maybe they would’ve found a way to make this nightmare of a lesson somewhat interesting, and Mike wouldn’t have to stand on top of three stools to put the books on the top shelf because he had given up for the day.

“Whatcha doin’ brother?” The older prince popped up at the door with a flash, startling his brother and making the poor prince lost his balance, sending him tumbling to the floor with a chair and two  _ very heavy _ books on top of him.

“Richie!” Mike groaned. “Can’t you pick a more inconvenient time to do that?”

“Well, I can always try, but—”

“That was  _ not _ a request!”

Richie chuckled and approached his brother, helping him up. “So, what were you doing?”

“Studying,” Mike huffed. “What were  _ you _ doing?”

“Studying,” the older boy shrugged, “but funner.”

“You mean  _ more _ fun,” the younger prince sighed.

“Whatever,” his brother grinned, “I went to the training yard and sparred with the new recruits. There was this really worthy opponent, Mike. You’ll love her.”

“You could do that tomorrow, when we  _ actually _ have sword fighting,” Mike rolled his eyes. “Today we were supposed to study something else, remember?” The younger prince asked, gesturing the two books on the floor.

“I think we can agree that we don’t both need to know about that shi—”

“In that case,” Mike interrupted, “I’m not the one who should remember it.  _ You _ are the future king of this kingdom.”

“But I’d suck at being a king,” Richie whined. “Can you imagine me having to sit still in a throne for hours? I didn’t ask for any of that.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you to obnoxiously kiss my cheek whenever you leave the room either,” Mike grumbled, “yet here we are.”

“You’ve never complained about that before,” the older prince huffed, before turning to smirk at his brother, “not before last week, at least.”

“Of course I have,” Mike scowled. “You just never listen to me.”

That was a blatant lie and they both knew it. Mike had never minded Richie’s overly affectionate nature, even if he pretended to not like it, since he knew his brother loved being able to express his feelings, and because one couldn’t just walk up to the king and queen and ask for a hug, the brother was the next best thing. Sure, he’d told Richie multiple times that it wasn’t how a prince should behave in public, let alone the future king, but he’d never told his brother to stop, and he knew his brother had been listening very carefully for that.

“You know you’re not fooling me,” the grin on Richie’s face only grew wider, “I’m smarter than that.”

Mike definitely knew that, since despite pulling shit like wandering off when he should be studying, Richie had never failed to keep up with him intellectually. He wouldn’t even be surprised if his brother knew more about the history of Avenia than him, despite Mike being the one spending the entire morning reading about it. In fact, the only lessons in which Richie failed to keep up with him were strategy and etiquette, and the former was because his brother was a little impatient when thinking things through. Still, that didn’t mean he would admit to anything.

“Prince Michael,” Richie said with a posh voice, “do you deny refusing to return your brother’s love so you could act cool in front of the new apprentice healer?”

“I refused because you need to behave more like a prince,” Mike huffed.

“And you didn’t deliberately get injured during our sword fight yesterday so you’d see him again did you?” Richie smirked knowingly.

“You  _ know _ you’ll win if you take me by surprise,” the younger prince rebuked. That statement was true. Richie was a lot better at reacting than him when things turned chaotic. However, if he wanted to use that to his advantage, then nobody needed to know.

“If you ask, I will gladly help you with that,” the older prince grinned at his brother. “I’m sure you’ll be talking to him by the end of this week.”

“That’s a hard pass,” Mike shook his head. “Don’t cause any trouble for our father. Didn’t you hear the news?”

“So what?” Richie rolled his eyes. “Some prince got kidnapped. Big deal. Everyone wants to kidnap a prince or a princess. This should be just another day at the palace.”

“This isn’t some kind of joke,” Mike sighed. “The Queen of Avenia has been running the kingdom alone since their king died seven years ago, and things haven’t been too great.” He had a headache just reading about the ridiculousness of some of that queen’s policies. The younger prince wondered how their father had been able to deal with her without starting a war. “The prince was betrothed to the princess of Dania, and the marriage would have strengthened the two kingdoms. This could potentially start a war, since the Queen isn’t the most reasonable person in the world. I bet it has something to do with Kolos.”

“Been studying that all morning, Mikey?” Richie snickered, and had to immediately dodge a candle stand his brother threw at him. “Wait, I thought the prince of Avenia was about our age?”

“That marriage is definitely not built on love,” Mike shrugged. “The Avenian bloodline was also special, so the prince is highly sought after. Not every prince or princess has a happy ending like father and mother. Royalty doesn’t generally marry for love.”

“And that’s exactly why I’m not fit to be a king,” Richie frowned. “I can’t marry someone I don’t love, and I definitely won’t force my children to either.”

“It’s not like I want to do that,” Mike scrunched his nose, “but if that helps prevent a war, I’ll do it.”

“Let’s hope there won’t be a war to prevent, my children,” a voice interrupted them, and the two boys turned to the door to see the king standing by the door.

“Father,” both princes greeted.

“I’m happy to hear you’re ready to give up your happiness,” the king said warmly, “but I would never ask you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.” He turned to Richie with an understanding look. “The same goes for you as well, Richard. You won’t have to marry anyone you don’t like.”

While that answer seemed to satisfy Richie, Mike couldn’t help but frown. “But father—”

“No buts,” the king shook his head. “I believe there are other ways to resolve a conflict than giving up my children’s choices. Now off you go. I have some business to take care of.”

Before Mike could say anything else, his brother grabbed his hand and dragged him away.

 

* * *

 

“Come on, Richie,” Mike sighed, “please don’t do this.”

Richie wasn’t sure whether Mike had meant ‘lock yourself away’ or ‘blame yourself for the demise of the King and Queen of Belena’ when he’d said  _ ‘this’ _ but either way,  _ this _ was happening. It should’ve been him instead of his parents.

Since he was already fifteen years old, the future king was old enough to represent Belena in the annual Ischyrus Council meeting. However, because he felt seasick the moment he stepped foot on the ship, his father had decided to go instead of him, and his mother had offered to accompany the king. They had never made it to the meeting, and according to the two guards the fishermen managed to pick up, there was either a huge storm or a giant sea monster involved. Richie didn’t want to care which version, if any of those two, had actually happened. Knowing that wouldn’t bring his parents back or change the fact that they would’ve been alive it hadn’t been for him. Technically, neither would crying, so he was done with tears.

It had been five days since they’d learned about the incident, five days of sending all the ships in dock out to look for any other survivor, and five days of a kingdom without a king. Richie wasn’t stupid enough to not know that, despite the whole realm being in mourning, they would need to announce a successor by tomorrow. They would need to pronounce  _ him _ the next king, and there was just no way that could possibly be a good decision. Mike had always been a better fit for that position. His brother was calmer than him, and definitely better in every aspect a king should be, while he was only good at causing chaos. Not to mention, everyone knew his twin had been able to use their _ gift _ since he was six — while none of the previous kings and queens had been able to before the age of ten. It should’ve been clear who the next king should be from that alone. Finally, the people would never accept a king who had caused the death of the previous king. Unfortunately, this was one topic Richie and Mike didn’t see eye to eye on, and everyone else seemed to agree with his brother. In other words, the kingdom was doomed.

_ Unless I disappear. _

 

* * *

 

Jane had been keeping an eye on the magical barrier surrounding the castle at her master’s final request, so she knew she needed to go get the prince as soon as it gave out a warning. The barrier — created to keep track of people with magical potential within the castle and to block magical attacks from the outside — was the last and probably most important artifact the archmage had left behind before going on that trip with the king. In her opinion, that was a stupid decision. Sure, she knew it totally made sense to send the best people to protect the ruler, but now, because of the incident, the kingdom was left without a king or a queen, and almost every other important position was missing as well. Of course, pretty much everyone had been training their successor, but like Jane, they were still extremely young, and she wondered what a fifteen-year-old advisor could do for a fifteen-year-old king.

Finding the prince wasn’t the most difficult task of the day, since after the death of the King and Queen, one of them had decided to lock himself in his chamber, and the other had chosen to spend his time in the study. Out of the two locations, one was a lot easier to get into, but she’d never hoped she wouldn’t run into Prince Michael as much as she did at the moment. Things would be a lot less complicated that way.

Unfortunately, Prince Michael was the first and only person she ran into as she arrived at the study. The prince looked up quizzically at her sudden appearance.

“Eleven,” he said. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Her real name was Jane, but pretty much everyone in the palace called her Eleven, or El, for short. She’d been chosen as the archmage’s apprentice after beating a lot of warlocks in a competition that had never had a winner younger than the age of sixteen. Not everyone liked to be beaten by an eleven-year-old girl, so she made sure the nickname stuck.

“I’m sorry to intrude, my prince,” she started, “but—”

“How many times do I have to tell you?” The prince interrupted. “You don’t need to use honorifics when there’s no one around. We are friends, aren’t we?”

“Sorry, Mike,” she quickly corrected herself, “but I think your brother might have run away.”

“What?” Mike frowned. “It’s not possible. I was just in front of Richie’s room. I could tell he was moving inside.”

“The barrier warned me that someone with your style and level of magic just left the castle,” El shrugged. “So unless you’re telling me  _ you _ have left, I don’t know anyone else with that kind of magic.”

“But I don’t understand,” the prince stood up and walked towards the door, “why would he leave? The kingdom has just endured a hit, and tomorrow they’re gonna—”

She could see in Mike’s eyes, the moment the taller teen came to the same conclusion she had.

“—announce the next king,” he groaned. “And he doesn’t want that to be him.”

“You know he always thought you should be the heir,” El shrugged.

“Can you track him down with your magic or something?” The raven-haired prince asked, to which she shook her head lightly.

“You two are too similar,” the mage said. “Any tracking spell I have will point to you instead.”

“I’m going to his room,” Mike informed and walked passed her. “Get Dustin and meet me there. Let’s hope we can figure out where he’s going.”

 

* * *

 

The King and Queen’s funeral was a great opportunity for Bill and his gang. The previous rulers of the realm might’ve been wise or something, but for those who lived on the street like him, the policies didn’t affect them that much. Their demise, however, meant that the rich people would be on the street showing off their wealth and pretending to be upset about their rich people problems such as not having a chance to meet the royalty yet or something of the sort. He estimated that one morning at the square would be enough for them to live off of for a year or so.

“Can you  _ please _ calm down? I can feel you vibrating from here,” Stan asked in an annoyed tone, which made him blush a little.

“Sorry,” the redhead teen mumbled. “It’s just that I’ve never been to such a huge gathering before.”

“Jessica said the Coronation is gonna be even bigger,” Eddie said from his corner.

His gang consisted of four people: Bill, Stan, Eddie, and Beverly. They were all orphans that had almost nobody that would care for them but themselves.  _ Almost, _ because they had been lucky enough to meet Will and Jessica, a couple of farmers who allowed the teens to stay in their old barn. Bill truly believed the couple would’ve done a lot more if they’d had the ability to, but they didn’t have a lot, and with a son to raise, it was a miracle those poor souls managed to do so much for the kids.

“All the more reason for us to rehearse,” Beverly said with a grin. “I have a feeling things are going to change around here after this.”

Bill watched as the only girl in the barn approached Stan and pulled him up. The curly-haired boy rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide his smirk as he followed his friend outside. “I suppose a day at the market could be fun,” he said.

The market was a mile away from the barn they were staying at, so by the time they got there, the sun was high in the sky, and the place was fairly crowded. Bill grinned as he pulled his friends to an empty alley.

“If tomorrow is just as crowded, we’re in luck,” he said.

“Something tells me it’s gonna be even more crowded,” Stan shrugged. “After all, everybody loved the king and queen.”

“We should split up, do what we normally do, and meet again at noon,” Beverly cleared her throat, “or do you want to do something grand, Bill?”

Before the blue-eyed boy could answer, there was a loud crash somewhere above their heads, and before anyone could even blink, the redheaded girl was already on the ground. If anyone had asked Beverly, she would’ve said the sky had fallen on her. Bill’s version was that an angel had fallen down on his friend. Eddie and Stan would insist that an idiot had climbed onto the roof and slipped. Whichever version it was, the girl was now groaning on the ground with a curly-haired boy on top of her.

“Fuck!” Bill cursed as he tried to pull the tall boy off his friend. “Beverly, are you okay?”

“Mother—”

“What the actual—?”

“Where the fuck did you come from?” Eddie scowled at the boy as he helped the girl up.

Bill turned around and took in the boy’s appearance properly. The guy was tall — maybe even taller than him, which was a big deal, because Bill was pretty tall himself — with curly black hair, pale white skin with light freckles, and dark brown eyes behind a pair of glasses. The glasses and the outfit told Bill that this boy wasn’t from a normal family, but the cuts and scratches indicated that he’d been running away, and that this hadn’t been the first time he’d fallen off a roof.

“Sorry about that, and sorry for  _ dropping in _ so suddenly,” the boy said, wincing a little as he tried not to laugh at his own joke. The fall must’ve hurt him more than he was showing. “I’ll be on my merry way.”

“Hold on,” Bill said and grabbed his wrist, which proved to be a wrong move, since the stranger immediately jerked out of his hold and turned around, his eyes highly alarmed as he tried to reach for something on his belt that wasn’t there.  _ A sword, _ his brain provided. The runaway boy was from a sword-yielding family. The auburn-haired teen raised both his hands up in a non-threatening way. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly, “I didn’t mean to startle you. But are you in trouble? Do you need help? We can give you a place to stay, no questions asked.”

The others shot him a quizzical look before taking in the other boy’s appearance as well. They’d all been on the run before. They all knew what that life was like.

“He’s right,” Beverly said, rubbing her head. She was definitely still hurt from the encounter. “I guess you already know it’s not safe out here alone. If you want, we can help you.”

The tall boy eyed them for a good moment, undoubtedly contemplating the possibility that this was a trap, and trying to see if he could take out four people at the same time. He must’ve finally come to a satisfying solution, since he gave them a curt nod. Bill grinned and slowly approached the teen, offering him his hand. “Hi, I’m Bill,” he said. “What’s your name?”

“Richie,” he said, taking Bill’s hand. “So, what are the four of you doing in an empty alley?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, if you think this was enough to leave a comment, even just to tell me you like or hate something, or even just to go "AAAAAAAA" for no reason, don't hesitate to do that. Although, I do love to hear your thoughts on this one as well, so if you have enough time and energy, definitely do that.
> 
> If nothing goes wrong, this fic will be updated every month. You can find the slightly more detailed update schedule on my profile.
> 
> Until next time, or until my next fic ;)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, and welcome to the next chapter of The Lost Prince!
> 
> Aren’t you glad I worked myself to exhaustion in June so now I have several chapters of several fics to give you during my exile?
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

“C’mon, guys,” Bill whined, “it will be fun.”

“It will ruin your chances to be a Royal Guard,” Stan corrected. “All your training will be for nothing if you get caught.”

“Exactly,” Beverly grinned, “it will be for nothing  _ if _ we get caught, which we won’t.”

“You guys are awfully excited about breaking the law,” Eddie sighed.

Richie didn’t know about the life before he’d joined this little band of misfits, but ever since he’d decided to be a part of them, things had changed  _ a lot. _ Unfortunately, the sweet couple who’d offered them refuge had passed away not long ago, leaving their son behind. Lucky for them, their gang of misfits had saved up enough money to make the life of young Mike Hanlon a lot more bearable. They’d managed to buy a small house for all of them to crash, closer to the center of the city, and had turned the ground floor into a grocery shop where Mike could sell the things he’d made on his farm. Although, these days, the one standing behind the counter most of the time was either Beverly or Eddie, with Mike being busy at the farm. 

The shop had gotten a few familiar customers as well, such as a cook at the nearby inn — a guy named Ben. Richie was certain that Ben had been drawn to the shop by Beverly’s charm, but right now he stayed mostly because of Mike’s charisma. He couldn’t exactly blame the boy since the farmer tended to have that effect on others. 

Ever since they had a place in the city, Stan had been spending more and more time at the library or something like that. The curly-haired boy mentioned reading a lot, and that was where his interest ended. 

Richie had trained Bill in sword fighting a lot at the farm whenever they weren’t helping Mike, because Bill had shown interest in being a Royal Guard. That didn’t mean they stopped stealing, though. They still did it once a month or so, because the thrill of being able to pull it off was ecstatic, and if he was being honest, some of the rich folks could learn to share their wealth with the less fortunate.

However, this time was different. It had been five years since he’d left, forcing his brother to rule the kingdom. As he’d known, King Michael had become a wise and fair ruler and had achieved things Richie wouldn’t have been able to. On top of it all, Mike was now tasked with the important feat of keeping the other kings and queens of the Ischyrus Council safe, as they paid their respects to the late King and Queen of Belena on the anniversary of their death, right before hosting a council meeting in Richie’s old palace. Although he’d been a troublemaker in the past, and a pain in Mike’s royal ass, he wouldn’t want to make things more difficult for Mike by agreeing to Bill and Bev’s plan to steal from the Royal Families.

“I don’t know, Bill,” Richie mumbled, “that does sound like a huge risk. I don’t think it’s worth it.”

Bill turned to Richie and pouted — downright pouted. Normally, it would’ve worked because as much as Richie hated to admit it, he found the redhead boy’s pouting disturbingly adorable. However, this time, he held his ground, since this plan would’ve gotten a lot of people in trouble — both the ones he saw every day and those he hadn’t talked to in a long time.

“Come on, Richie,” Bill pleaded, “I even managed to get a map of the castle and everything.”

Unless Mike had rebuilt the entire castle in the last five years, Richie was certain that the map Bill had shown them earlier had been fake, but there was no way for him to say that without raising suspicion.

“Can’t we just target the common rich people like we do every month, Bill?” He frowned.

“Why can’t we go for the big fish?” Bill furrowed his brows. “It’s not like the king has done anything for us. Hell, we don’t even  _ know _ what he looks like.”

Richie would love to point out how untrue that was for Bill, but he couldn’t. “The king has been a good ruler, in my opinion. The kingdom has been on the verge of war for so long, yet we’re still able to keep our peace.”

“Please,” Bill huffed, “he only does anything he can to keep the throne. Do you seriously think it was a coincidence that his older brother died one day before being announced the next king? I bet he had something to do with that.”

Richie felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. Well, that and the urge to punch Bill really hard for thinking like that about his brother, but he could see where the other boy was coming from. After he’d run away, Mike had announced that Richie had died from grieving, and of course the entire kingdom had made up all kinds of stories about the cruel prince who murdered his own brother for the throne. None of them had known Mike, otherwise, they would have known that he wasn’t capable of such thing.

“Not everyone wants the throne, Bill,” Eddie’s voice snapped Richie from his thoughts. That was a first. Usually, the only one who ever said anything nice about King Michael was Mike Hanlon — something Richie secretly found amusing. Richie had never participated in this topic, since he didn’t want to expose himself, and the rest always seemed disinterested. Perhaps, being at the shop, Eddie had heard some kinds of rumors he hadn’t shared with the group before. “I bet being the king comes with tons of problems he didn’t ask for.”

“Oh, boo hoo, I have too many knives and forks to use during dinner,” Bill snorted. “There’s a pea under my mattress so I can’t sleep. What kind of problems the king could possibly have that made him  _ not _ want to sit there?”

“How about love?” This time, it was Stan who surprised Richie. “I’ve been reading a lot, and I learned that kings, queens, princes, and princesses rarely have the happy ending common folks like us have.” Everyone turned to the curly-haired boy with widened eyes. “Some of them are engaged even before they know what love is, and they have to get married to prevent their kingdoms from being at war, or to strengthen the bond of two realms. Not everyone gets the luxury of following their heart.”

Stan’s words eerily reminded Richie of his own brother, and of a conversation they’d had nearly ten years ago, about duty and responsibility. Stan reminded Richie of Mike in lots of ways, from his rigid posture to the way he rolled his eyes at Richie’s jokes, pretending to be offended despite the twitch on his lips, and the way they often bickered about any and all unimportant things. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that he’d found another brother — this time not by blood — or if it was bad because every time he looked at Stan, he missed Mike more and more.

“Why are you guys suddenly defending the king?” Bill grumbled sulkily.

“For a guy who hates him that much, why do you want to be a Royal Guard?” Eddie countered with a smile on his lips. “To assassinate him when he’s sleeping?”

“I don’t  _ hate _ him,” Bill huffed. “I just think he shouldn’t sit on his throne, all high and mighty, and tell us what to do or what not to do.”

“One doesn’t need to sit on a throne to tell you not to steal,” Beverly pointed out. “Mike does that all the time from our dining table.”

And just like that, the group was laughing and joking again, and Bill stopped bringing up the idea of breaking into the palace.

 

* * *

 

Dustin finally managed to find the king at his fifth favorite spot in the palace: at the training ground, sparring with ten guards at the same time. In all honesty, he should’ve thought about the training ground earlier, since this was the king’s way to let out his frustration. One would say a one-against-ten match wasn’t very fair, and in normal circumstances, one would be correct, but with King Michael’s ability, anything less would’ve given the guards a serious disadvantage.

“Your Highness,” he tried to get the king’s attention as he disarmed the fifth guard. This was already the end of the match, so he didn’t need to worry about distracting the king. King Michael, however, didn’t show any signs of having heard him, other than the fact that he was now drawing out the match by not using his power after disarming almost everyone, leaving the Head of the Royal Guard alone.

“Your Highness,” the curly-haired boy tried again, but the king was still adamantly ignoring him in favor of sparring. He narrowed his eyes before turning to the rest of the guards — the defeated ones and the ones who had been watching. “Leave us.” His voice left no room for argument, and one after another, they all left the area. Once he was sure they were alone, Dustin quickly drew his knife and threw it at the sparring pair.

Despite being in the middle of a battle, both the king and the Head of the Royal Guard managed to turn around and deflected his badly-thrown knife with ease. “You know, I could have your head for treason,” the king raised an eyebrow as he turned to Dustin.

“Well, how else am I gonna get your attention?” He huffed. “And who’s gonna arrest me? Max?” He gestured the king’s opponent.

“If he asked me to, I wouldn’t argue,” Max warned before putting her sword back in her sheath. 

“Please, neither of you are going to arrest me,” Dustin snorted. “I’ve practically been running the kingdom for the last two days. Speaking of which, Mike, you were supposed to be in the throne room.”

“Why should I when you’re more than capable to take care of everything?” Mike rolled his eyes and started walking away.

“Because if I start a war with Avenia, people are going to blame  _ you _ for it,” Dustin retorted.

“What’s the point of having a chamberlain if I still have to pick what color the curtains should be?” The king grumbled.

“You wouldn’t have to do that if it were a normal day,” the curly-haired boy sighed, “but all the other kings and queens are coming, and we have to be ready for them.”

“Well, it shouldn’t have been  _ my  _ responsibility,” Mike growled, and the young advisor couldn’t help but flinch at the reaction.

Behind the raven-haired ruler, Max shot Dustin a concerned glance, and he quickly reassured her that everything was fine without using his words, at the same time dragging the taller guy away. He didn’t like keeping secrets from one of his friends, especially since he didn’t have too many of them to begin with, but this was a matter of national security, and while he trusted her with his life, the fewer people that knew, the better. There were only four people who knew the truth about Prince Richard: the king, El, Will, and him. The archmage had been the one who’d noticed Richie’s disappearance, and had been the one to cast a spell on a nameless corpse to look like the runaway prince. The healer had been in charge of confirming that, yes, Prince Richard had passed away due to grief. In his professional opinion, he didn’t need to know about this, but since Mike had called for him that day, there was just no way for him to unlearn it.

“I know it shouldn’t have been your responsibility,” he whispered, “but it is what it is, and we can’t change it.”

“We should’ve looked for Richie instead of lying to everyone,” Mike mumbled. The young king always second-guessed his decision during this time of the year. It wasn’t anything Dustin hadn’t dealt with before.

“You know how that’s gonna look,” he reminded his friend. “The future king running away after his parents’ death. The people will doubt his leadership, and the other countries will see that as a weakness.”

“But we gave up on him too quickly,” the taller boy said quietly. “He would think we didn’t need him.”

Dustin’s eye twitched in annoyance, and he put his hand on Mike’s chest, stopping him in his tracks before shoving him against a wall.

“Listen up, asshole,” he gritted his teeth, “we don’t  _ need _ him. We definitely  _ want _ him to be here, but we’ve been doing a great job running this kingdom.” The curly-haired boy made sure nobody but the king could hear his voice. “I know you miss him. Hell,  _ I _ miss him. He was my friend, too, Mike. But we both know he wouldn’t like to run this realm. I can’t even count all the times he told me you’d be a better king. So stop. Moping. Around.”

The advisor held his gaze until he was certain his message had come across before finally letting go.

“You know, I can still have your head for not using honorifics alone,” Mike huffed as they started walking again.

“Please, you hate honorifics,” Dustin rolled his eyes. “Plus, I’m too important for you to get rid of.”

The raven-haired boy snorted but didn’t object. “So, what did I miss today?”

“The usual stuff,” the curly-haired boy shrugged. “The Queen of Avenia has been driving me crazy with her demands, and the King of Dania is going to arrive one day later than announced.” He gave Mike a summary of what he’d been dealing with. “On a more pressing matter, one of my informants said there might be an attack on the palace. Someone bought one of the fake maps. I would’ve told Max to be on high alert, but since  _ you _ have been keeping her busy all morning, I told Lucas to tell her.”

Mike stopped walking and turned to him with a smirk. “So, I guess you won’t need me for the rest of the day, then?”

It took Dustin a moment, but he recognized the smirk. The shorter boy narrowed his eyes at the ruler of the kingdom. “Oh, no you’re not,” he warned. “I swear I will ask El to cast a spell on you so you can never leave this palace again.”

“Don’t you think if such a spell existed, she would’ve done that already?” The king’s smile never wavered as he turned to scan the area. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you even notice.”

“Didn’t you hear what I told you earlier? Someone’s targeting the palace. They could be targeting you. You can’t just—”

Before he could continue, Mike disappeared in a column of light so bright that he had to close his eyes immediately.

“Shit,” Dustin cursed under his breath, “he left the castle.”

 

* * *

 

The entrance to the Chamber of Knowledge looked like the entrance to an abandoned wine cellar, but years of magic in El taught her better than that. She could feel layers and layers of spells protecting the place, some hiding it from people with no magic, some preventing those with malevolent intent from entering. This was the place that held dozens, if not hundreds, of books on magic and rituals, and was probably the most important part of the Kingdom of Belena. Any spell that had ever been used to defend this country could be found in one of the books on the shelves.

Aside from protecting the kingdom, an archmage’s sacred duty was to protect the Chamber and the secrets it held. That didn’t mean preventing everyone from accessing it, though. On the contrary, anyone that was powerful enough to find the place and pure enough to get inside was allowed to study magic here. However, some of the more powerful grimoires, such as the ones that taught more than just tricks for gardening with magic, required the reader to have higher magic, and the more dangerous books couldn’t be touched by anyone that didn’t have a pure heart.

In other words, other than being an archmage, she was also a librarian. Actually, most of the time, she was more of a librarian than an archmage. Not the most exciting part of the job description, so it was no surprise that nobody even mentioned it until she’d been chosen as an apprentice. If it hadn’t been a magic library, she would’ve passed this title to someone else already.

“Good morning, Archmage,” a familiar voice greeted El as she entered the Chamber.

“Good morning, warlock,” she greeted back. “Early start today?”

“More like you being late,” the guy chuckled before returning to the book he was reading. It was a fairly advanced book on weather manipulating, and definitely wasn’t something just any warlock could pick up and read without any problems. Of course, she didn’t need that little detail to tell her the warlock in front of her was exceptionally powerful — experienced magic users could detect magic, and the guy might’ve been the strongest warlock she’d met in the city. That was saying something, since she’d won a contest against a lot of powerful warlocks back in the day, and she didn’t remember meeting him. Until three years ago, she hadn’t even known about him.

“Big ambition there,” she said, referring to the book. “Tell me again, why didn’t you want to be an archmage? I could’ve really used the competition back then.”

“And have to swear off romance for the rest of my life?” The warlock raised an eyebrow. “I’m not that power hungry.”

It was true that being an archmage meant she couldn’t have any romantic relationships with anyone, but she didn’t mind that very much. For magic users, titles weren’t just titles — there was power behind those words. For instance, a wizard of a village could draw nature magic from every stream, every forest around the village, and a high warlock of a city could amplify his or her power based on the number of warlocks residing in that city. Being an archmage meant she could do all that, and also had some access to the magic of her predecessors. With that kind of power came that huge price to ensure that these kind of powers couldn’t be passed down to the archmage’s children, and therefore they all had to pick an apprentice.

“Are you saying that I am?” El quirked an eyebrow.

“Isn’t that why you want everyone to call you Eleven?” The guy asked. “To remind them how strong you are?”

“It was a statement,” El shrugged. “So others would think twice before looking down at a little girl.”

“If you say so,” the warlock chuckled before turning back to his book, absentmindedly conjuring a fireball as he kept reading. She rolled her eyes before returning to what she’d intended to do — finding more protection spells to cast around the palace. Since this was the first time Belena was hosting a council meeting ever since she’d become the archmage, she didn’t have a lot of experience on protecting the other kings and queens while not revealing too much about the protective spells surrounding the kingdom. The other kings and queens would undoubtedly bring their archmages as well, and concealing magic from powerful magic users could prove to be tricky. The downside of being as powerful was that nobody challenged her anymore, so there wasn’t a lot of opportunities to practice dueling spells or stealth spells. Ever since her predecessor had passed away, nobody had been powerful enough to train with her.

_ Well, nobody except— _

“Hey,” El turned to the warlock, “do you want to train with me sometime?”

The guy raised an eyebrow at her. “Is this your way to tell me you want to kick my ass?” He asked. “Because we both know you can.”

“No, it’s not that,” she quickly shook her head. “You’re the strongest warlock I’ve met, and that includes this city’s high warlock. I don’t have anyone to train with me, so if you can, it’ll help me big time.”

The guy’s eyes were on her as he contemplated the request, so she kept her pleading gaze. Finally, he sighed. “Okay, but if we want to seriously train, we need to find a place where we can’t hurt anybody.”

“I think I have a book for that,” El replied with a grin. “Thanks, Stan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think of this? Like it? Hate it? Think some of your characters have been unfairly treated? Let me know in the comments.
> 
> I might be able to get back to updating _Love, Will_ in two weeks, but in the meantime, enjoy this (and the next chapter of Cursed Kingdom next week if you want)
> 
> Until next time.


	3. Chapter 3

Eddie was worried about his group of misfits. He just couldn’t help it, especially as everyone had started to find their own path in this world — well, almost everyone.

He was manning their little shop alone. Mike had left earlier and gone back to the farm to get some stuff done before it got dark, leaving him back here all by himself. Technically, Mike had left him and Beverly in charge, but the girl had already sneaked off to the market to do whatever she always did when she sneaked off. He knew Ben knew it, but he also knew the chef wouldn’t tell them about it if they asked. Whether it was because he was scared of Bev or because of his once-upon-a-time crush on her, Eddie didn’t know, but both were valid reasons anyway.

Despite being the store owner, not a lot of customers had met Mike Hanlon, since he didn’t often show up during opening hours. According to the guy, there was always something that needed tending at the farm, and even though he knew it was true — it was a fucking farm, after all — he suspected the real reason was because upon meeting new people, Mike knew he’d have to talk about himself, and he either was too modest to do that, or missed his parents too much to bring up the sensitive topic.

Even though Mike went the extra mile to not meet any new people, Ben was still enthralled enough to come over almost every day after closing hour. Ben was excellent company, and everyone loved him, so that worked out wonderfully. Furthermore, the chef always insisted on making dinner for them, and needless to say, none of them had had anything that good since Jessica Hanlon passed away.

Bill and Richie had also left — presumably also to Mike’s farm to practice sword fighting. Either that or one of them had finally manned up enough to talk about their feelings. It was hilarious seeing them dance around each other like that, but after a couple of years, he supposed his friends were due for the happy ending they both deserved. He was glad Mike and Ben sort of got things figured out, otherwise, the amount of pining during dinner would’ve been too much.

Of course, he couldn’t exactly go and say that to any of his friends, since he was also miserable because of his feelings. His best friend in the world Stan, whom he might or might not have a crush on, had been  _ slightly _ distant recently. He knew the other guy wasn’t the most affectionate type of people, but he literally had no idea what a typical day was like to his friend. Granted, unlike everyone else in the group, he knew Stan went to a magic library, where he could practice his skills, but that was all. Well, that  _ and _ the fact that Stan had made a friend there and had refused to elaborate, and Eddie had definitely  _ not _ been jealous of that.

He really needed something to distract him from this train of thought, and he needed it now.

The door slowly swung open, and he sighed in relief when Richie walked in.  _ Just the type of distraction I need. _

“Finally, you’re back,” he said tiredly. “Where’s Bill?”

“Excuse me?” The other man asked, and Eddie’s eyes widened as he carefully took in the guy’s appearance. He looked and sounded  _ a lot _ like Richie, but that was where the similarity ended. The way the guy spoke was different from the way his friend usually did, and so was his demeanor in general. In all the years he’d known their resident Trashmouth, there hadn’t been a single moment an awake Richie didn’t radiate some sort of chaotic aura, and Richie definitely could never look this composed. Not to mention, unless his friend had decided to attack a traveler and rob them of their clothes, the outfit was definitely not his.

“I’m sorry, I mistook you for my friend,” Eddie quickly apologized. “How can I help you?”

“Oh,” the stranger blinked at his explanation, “I was just curious about this shop. It’s a little far from the market.”

Eddie was definitely aware of that. In order to get to this shop, people would have to walk for a while from the center. However, this was the best place they could afford that could house seven people, and it had the added bonus of being far enough to lay low whenever the gang decided to pull something. That did make getting customers a little difficult, but the ones who’d found them had all become regulars — some more regular than others. Mike liked to say it was because of Eddie and Bev’s hospitality, but the rest of them all knew people fell for the quality of his goods — and one particular person also fell for the shop owner.

“Yeah,” he gave the customer a sad smile. “It’s not much, but it’s the best place we can get.”

The other guy hummed in reply and started picking fruit, although Eddie was fairly certain the stranger didn’t really know how to.

“You might wanna check the color first,” he gave the guy some tips. “The best oranges always have the most irresistible shade. And for the apples, you should give them a test squeeze to see if they’re firm. The fragrance of ripe fruit is also very important.”

The taller guy chuckled and did as he was told. “Shouldn’t you try to sell the worst ones first?”

“Not in this shop,” Eddie shook his head. “The owner put a lot of love in all these products. It would be a shame if nobody knew how good they were.”

“Good point,” his customer nodded. “So I guess you’re not the owner, then?”

“What? Me?” Eddie couldn’t help but laugh out loud at that. “Do I look like I can grow stuff?”

“Looks can be misleading,” the stranger replied. “We only show what we want others to see.”

“Words of wisdom aside,” the shorter boy smiled, “I don’t think I can fake something like physical appearance.”

“Unfortunately, I think you’re right,” the raven-haired man chuckled. He then approached Eddie with the newly picked fruit. “So, how did I do?”

“Not too bad,” the brunet hummed. “Although, since we don’t sell anything less than great, it wasn’t a very impressive feat.”

“Was that your way of telling me your products are the best?”

“Your words, not mine,” Eddie grinned. “But yeah, they are.”

And that was when the first arrow flew through the window.

 

* * *

 

Bev had been following her target for a while now. She’d spotted the redhead in the Royal Guard uniform the moment the other girl had entered the market square. However, this girl was definitely not on guard duty, since it was protocol for them to move in groups of three, and she was alone.

However, Bev knew better than to underestimate her target. Just because the girl was not on duty, didn’t mean her guard wasn’t up. The thief was extremely experienced, and her experience told her she would have an incredibly difficult time approaching this target without being spotted. But then again, it wouldn’t be nearly half as fun if it wasn’t challenging. Carefully, she made her way through the crowd, closing her distance from behind. All she needed was a single swift move, and—

“I was wondering when you’d finally drag your ass here,” the other girl said without looking back, crushing all Bev’s hopes of not being spotted.

“Fuck,” she cursed under her breath, “what gave me away?”

Max chuckled and turned around. “Maybe because you’re the first person I look for when walking into this square,” she said. “Then again, maybe because we’re currently the only two redheads in this place.”

“You and your stupid skills as a guard,” Bev rolled her eyes.

“Head of the Royal Guards,” Max corrected. “I didn’t work my ass off to get here for you to skip my title.”

“Power craving,” Bev hummed. “Bet you’d leave me for the King at your earliest opportunity.”

“Unfortunately, you’re more fun than him,” Max grinned. “So, what has my beautiful thief been up to?”

“Oh, you know, just this and that,” Bev said vaguely. She wouldn’t have gone through with the whole castle heist plan if she thought they’d actually do that in the first place, but still, it was safer for her friends if she didn’t bring it up in front of someone who could actually arrest them. That would put a huge damper on their relationship. “And I rarely steal anymore. Why do you keep using that nickname?”

“Because it reminds me of how we first met,” her girlfriend replied. “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t get to have fun too often, since outlaws tend to target you less if you’re a guard.”

“Well, back then I still thought all rich folks were evil,” she stuck her tongue out, “and you have to admit, Royal Guards didn’t have to worry about money.”

“Obviously, we have to make sure the people in charge of the King’s life aren’t easily bought.”

“In other words, if my friend gets in, we won’t have to worry about money anymore?”

“Like you said,  _ if _ he gets in,” Max pointed out. “If he’s good enough, you won’t have to worry about that. But it won’t hurt if I know who he is in advance.”

“And you know I can’t do that,” Bev reminded her.

“What if I promise not to arrest any of them?”

“It’s not about that,” Bev shook her head. “Well, I think it isn’t.” She could tell that some of her friends didn’t like Royal Guards too much, and she doubted it had anything to do with avoiding being under arrest.

“If you have no idea why, why don’t you just ask?” Max raised an eyebrow. “I know you said you guys wouldn’t ask questions about anyone’s past, but don’t you think there’s enough trust in your family to know that kind of stuff?”

“I  _ know _ we trust each other enough,” Bev sighed, “but I don’t think that topic is something we discuss around our dining table.”  _ More like around a campfire before the last battle. _

“Understandable,” Max hummed. “To be fair, I don’t talk to my friends about you, either, but it’s more because we don’t usually talk about that kind of stuff than because of your, uh, occupation.”

“Really?” Bev quirked an eyebrow. “Because I thought with your friends being pretty much the most powerful people in the kingdom, you’d not want to be known as associating with street rats.”

“I can see why you'd assume that,” the Royal Guard chuckled, “but those people love to sneak out of the castle and hang out with common folks. Well, maybe other than my deputy and his idiot of a boyfriend. Even the King goes out in disguise and tries to be a common traveler sometimes, although I’m not sure if that’s ever worked since his behavior should be a dead giveaway.”

“Interesting,” the other redhead chuckled, “don’t suppose you know if we’ve ever picked his pocket before, do you?”

“Don’t you think you guys would’ve noticed if you’d stolen from the King himself?” Max rolled her eyes.

“I love a good challenge,” Bev said with a wink.

“I wouldn’t think about it if I were you,” her girlfriend shook her head. “He can easily deal with several assassins at once. What makes you think one cute little thief can take him?”

“We’ll have to see, now, won’t we?” She said with a cheeky grin. “But enough about our friends, if I remember correctly, someone owes me a date.”

“No way,” Max scoffed. “You definitely lost last time.”

“We can ask Ben if you like?” Bev smirked at her girlfriend. “I think we both know what he’ll say though.”

“Yeah, because there’s no way your friend would be biased towards you,” the other redhead rolled her eyes. “Fine, princess. What do you wanna do today?”

 

* * *

 

His friends would definitely not think of him as the type to hang around dark alleys like this, but Will had been doing it for years now. After all, this had always been how he managed to get his hands on the best kind of ingredients for his potions and everything.

Being the head healer of the kingdom meant he needed to treat a lot of difficult cases from time to time. He didn’t necessarily have more patients — on the contrary, most of the time, he only treated the King or the guards who got distracted sparring with Mike or while training. Actually, his most regular visitor was Mike, who, despite being able to fend off a dozen armed guards, was always clumsy enough to get some minor cuts or bruises that he couldn’t explain. The healer didn’t mind that too much, though, since that meant he got to spend more time with the handsome ruler. However, once in a while, he’d need to treat someone that the other healers didn’t have enough knowledge or experience to treat, or the Archmage would ask him to brew her some type of potions, and he needed the best ingredients in the kingdom to make sure everything would be perfect. Naturally, he wouldn’t be able to trust anyone else to do that kind of thing for him, and that brought him to where he was at the moment, at the back alley of the biggest inn in the capital. This was the entrance to the kitchen, where he could get the rest of the ingredients on his list. The people here already got used to him coming once in a while, so he just walked in like he belonged.

“Hey Will,” the chef greeted him once he was in sight, “what can I do for you today?”

“Hi Ben,” the shorter guy chuckled, “I’m here looking for some fresh ingredients. Do you happen to have dittany, ginger roots, coriander, and wormwood in your inventory?”

“Lucky for you, we just restocked yesterday,” Ben said with a bright smile before turning around and motioning for him to follow. “We can check together if you wanna come with me.”

Although usually, Will could find most of the ingredients in the palace kitchen, they were nowhere remotely close to being the best kind, and that would affect the quality of his potions. Granted, the royal kitchen always got the good stuff, but the truly best deliveries would go to big inns where they bribed the farmer for quality products. After all, to win the competition, you’d have to go the distance. Moreover, while the royal kitchen could get most of the locally grown and raised goods, the more exquisite merchandise that came with foreign merchants wasn’t the type their cooks would usually go out of their way to acquire, and unfortunately, the more advanced potions often required rare ingredients. However, the biggest inn in the area, if not country, would definitely make sure to get their hands on the best products, and that was why he came here often enough to be friends with the inn’s chef.

“Here you go,” the taller guy said as they entered the storeroom. “All yours to pick from.”

“Thanks a lot, Ben,” the healer smiled softly and started browsing through everything. “Are you sure you don’t want me to pay you back?”

“Not this again,” the other guy chuckled. “You basically take nothing from us. But I do wonder what you’re planning to do with them.”

In a way, Will supposed it was a form of payment. Sometimes, he explained to Ben what medical properties each of these ingredients had, and the chef would use that knowledge in making new dishes or improving his old ones in order to not just make them more delicious, but more healthy for the customers. It didn’t always go like that, though, since there were times when he had to keep things a secret, because unlike his potions, which he didn’t mind sharing with the world, the things El asked him to make could affect the safety of the entire kingdom. This would be one of those cases.

“Well, since all the kings and queens of other countries are going to arrive within the next couple of days, I’m just making sure I’m prepared for everything,” the healer said. “Plus, our Archmage asked me to make something for her. I could tell you, but—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” the taller guy chuckled, “you’d have to kill me.” He turned around and started walking back to the kitchen. “Somehow I don’t think you’ll hurt a fly, but keep threatening,” he let out an airy laugh. “Come see me before you leave. I have something I want to give you.”

With that, Will was left to his own devices.

 

* * *

 

Being the Head Archer and Deputy Head of the Royal Guards, it was just natural for Lucas to have sharp eyes or to notice if someone sneaked out of the castle. That didn’t mean he needed to stop them, though, since after all, he wasn’t anyone’s governess, and he didn’t have the time or energy to stop people from sneaking outside ten times a day — and that was excluding the King. However, this case was a tad different from other cases.

“Going somewhere?” He popped up behind the figure that had just managed to sneak out of the palace, effectively making his target jump back and trip in surprise.

“For fuck’s sake, Lucas,” Dustin hissed, “don’t startle me like that.”

“Startle? Don’t you mean scare?” The taller guy raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing, babe?”

“Remember when I said someone might plan an attack on the palace?” The advisor asked.

“You mean when you said someone bought one of your fake maps?” The archer tilted his head quizzically.

“Well, I want to investigate that,” the curly-haired boy shrugged as if that was the most obvious and most reasonable explanation ever.

“You want to investigate that?” The black guy asked. “Alone?”

“There’s a chance Kolos and their assassins are behind that,” the blue-eyed advisor explained. “In that case, a big team might alert them of our presence.”

“And what did Mike say to that?”

“He’s not around,” the shorter guy scoffed. “He snuck out, and I can’t find Max either.”

“Yeah, she snuck out too,” the archer shrugged. “So did El and Will. They do that a lot, actually.”

“And since we need to act fast on this, it makes sense that I should go and find out all I can about it,” Dustin continued. “Plus, if I hear one more complaint from the Queen of Avenia, I might go and hang myself.”

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Lucas frowned at his boyfriend. “You, the royal advisor, the supposedly smartest person in this palace, who has absolutely no skills whatsoever in stealth, combat, or even self-defense, want to investigate a security problem that might have been caused by the evil country that’s notorious for its assassins, alone, without telling anyone? Because you’re sick of an over-demanding queen?”

“See, when you put it that way, it sounds like you’re making fun of me,” the advisor winced.

“Oh, is  _ that _ what it sounds like?” The black guy snorted. “With you and Mike being the ones making all the important decisions around here, I’m surprised to see we’re still alive.”

“But the King of Dania will arrive in three days,” Dustin whined, “and we  _ have to _ be ready for them. That means making sure nobody is getting assassinated, although I personally don’t mind if a certain queen has to leave early.”

“If she hears you say that, then it’s off with your head,” the Royal Guard warned.

“But you won’t tell her that because you love me,” the curly-haired guy said cheekily.

“Unfortunately,” Lucas sighed. “Love you enough to help you investigate this shit.”

“Wait,” the advisor blinked, “really?”

“Either this or lock you up to make sure you won’t sneak out on your own,” the taller man said. “At least this way, there will be one less thing for you to worry about.”

The blue-eyed boy quickly tiptoed and pecked his boyfriend’s lips. “Thanks, Lukey,” he said with a bright grin.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the other guy grumbled. “I’m definitely gonna regret this when Mike or Max hears about it.”

From the way Dustin was smiling, he knew he wouldn’t, even if he got thrown in a cell for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think about this chapter? Like it? Hate it? Want me to change something about it? Let me know in the comments.
> 
> Whose point of view do you want to see next? Who do you think should get more screen time? Let me know your preferences as well, since it's not easy giving 13 characters equal opportunities to shine.
> 
> Kudos are amazing as well, but nothing motivates my writing better than your comments, even if you just want to leave a key smash there.
> 
> That's all I want to say for now. Until next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was supposed to go up last week, but since I missed my own schedule, you're gonna get a treat soon.

Overall, Richie’s day had been amazing. He’d spent the entire afternoon training at Mike’s farm with Bill using real weapons. Those had been something fairly difficult to get their hands on without money, which they didn’t have, but about a year ago, during a night trip to the local Viscount’s estate, they’d come across a pair of swords hanging on the wall. He’d decided that it would’ve been a shame for any blacksmith who’d made them if those masterpieces were only used as decorations, and the ginger boy could’ve practiced with something heavier than twigs to get used to the feeling, too, so they’d ended up taking more than just gold and jewels.

Having a real weapon to use boosted Bill’s morale significantly as well. The other guy would drag him back to the farm a lot more often, since that was where they kept the swords, and that was also the only place spacious enough for them to train. His redheaded friend had also improved a lot because of that. There was no doubt that in six months, Richie would lose to him in a fair fight. Of course, things would’ve been different if the runaway prince had kept up his training since he left the castle, but he figured his current level would still be enough to take on a Royal Guard.

“Do you think I’m good enough yet?” Bill suddenly asked. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re an amazing teacher, but since you’re the only one I spar with, I have no idea what the entrance level is like.”

They were walking back from the farm. Mike was still feeding the animals, but he’d told them to go ahead, since he would also head back after he was done with it. Technically, the farm owner could’ve stayed and got more work done, but ever since Ben started to come over and make dinner with them, the black boy had never gotten back after sunset.

“It’s almost like you’re asking me if I’m better than an average Royal Guard,” Richie snickered. “Anyway, the answer to both questions is yes,” he sent his friend a cheeky smile. “You’re good enough to go to a tryout, or go save a princess, or a prince, or a damsel in distress, or whoever the fuck you wanna save when you finally get out of this life.”

“Why do you think I wanna save someone?” The other boy shot him a questioning look.

“I don’t know,” the raven-haired boy shrugged. “My dad used to say, there are only two reasons why someone wants to be strong: to hurt someone, or to protect someone,” he said as he thought back to his childhood. “I guess I just don’t see you as the type to hurt people.”

“Maybe so,” Bill gave him a sad smile. “That doesn’t mean I’m good at protecting people, though.”

Richie frowned as he looked at his company. This was one of the problems, if not the only problem, of their group dynamic. Since they valued each other’s privacy, none of them knew about each other’s past. As far as Richie knew, other than Ben and Mike, none of the others had a last name. Of course, that worked out wonderfully for him, since he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone knowing about his heritage, but it also made comforting his company a lot more difficult.

“You know,” he said softly, “it might be good to let it out or talk to someone about it.” As shocking as it seemed, this advice didn’t come from his brain either. It was something his mother used to say, something he’d never thought his mind would’ve registered, and something he was definitely not doing. “Doesn’t have to be me,” he added, even though he wanted more than anything for it to be him, “but I think you know that none of us would ever judge your past.”

Bill nodded, but only looked down as he kept walking, letting the sound of their footsteps filling the silence. Richie hated the silence. Most of the time, that left him and everyone around him too many opportunities to spiral into the whirlwind of negativity. Of course, there were times when people enjoyed the silence as well — like those times after a training session, when he and Bill just lay down on the ground looking up at the passing clouds, enjoying each other’s company. He didn’t need to be a genius to know that this wasn’t one of those times, and he was dying to do something about it, to distract the other boy somehow.

Luckily for him, as he was about to open his mouth, Bill started talking.

“Georgie,” he said in a quiet voice. “That’s my little brother. I lost him.” The ginger boy kept his gaze down as he continued. “My family was fleeing from bandits. We got separated from our parents, so I had to look after him. We hid in a small cave near the woods, so we had shelter and access to food and water.” He paused to take a deep breath, and Richie didn’t need to be an expert to know whatever Bill was about to say, it had been tormenting the other boy for a really long time. “I don’t know what happened. That morning, he was still sleeping, and I thought I’d go pick some berries so he’d have breakfast when he woke up. When I got back, he was gone.” It was clear from Bill’s voice that the boy was trying to hold back his tears, so Richie tentatively put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, hoping it would convey the comfort the other boy needed. If it didn’t, Bill didn’t show it. “I never found him, and I never knew what happened either. I tried looking everywhere, but eventually had to accept that I wouldn’t be able to find him by myself. That was ten years ago.”

“Is that why you want to join the Royal Guard?” Richie asked softly.

“That’s part of the reason, yeah,” Bill nodded. “I know I’ll be able to find him if I have the Royal Guards help me look.”

Richie wanted to point out that it wasn’t the main job of a Royal Guard to look for a lost kid, but he didn’t want to dampen his friend’s mood any more than he’d already done. “So, what’s the other part?”

“I wanna take care of you guys,” the ginger boy said sheepishly, his cheeks reddened to match the color of his hair. “I heard that if you’re a Royal Guard, you won’t have to think about money anymore. We obviously can’t keep stealing forever.”

The raven-haired boy definitely hadn’t expected that answer. In a way, Bill had been looking out for his family for as long as Richie could imagine. He’d always been the big brother that everyone needed, and even now, he was still thinking about the future of their little group.

“Plus,” Bill said with a grin, “I’ll be able to meet the King. You’re talking to someone who knows royalty in the future.”

And that was when Richie’s heart plummeted. For some dumb reason, he’d never thought about what would happen after Bill became a Royal Guard. Of course, he’d have to train at the castle, memorize the faces of the people he protected. There was no way for his crush not to realize how much he looked like the King. When Bill became a Guard, and of course he would become one, since Richie had taught him well, and he would also never sabotage his crush’s dream no matter what, there was no way to keep his identity a secret from everyone.

And since there was no way to stop Bill from finding out, the day his friend met his brother would be the day he had to leave the group. With how good the redhead was becoming, he wouldn’t last half a year.

The funny thing was, he’d originally planned to tell his crush how he felt on that very day. They would’ve shared a kiss and it would’ve been perfect. After that, he would’ve dragged Bill somewhere private and things would’ve turned more interesting. He wasn’t supposed to leave the group unless he got rejected so badly, he couldn’t stay anymore. The lanky boy supposed life always found a way to sabotage his plans.

“Rich?” Bill frowned a little. “You okay? You’ve been quiet for quite some time now.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Richie quickly put on his usual grin. “Just feeling a bit nostalgic. You see that alley? I used to take Eddie’s mom there and—”

“Beep beep, Richie,” Bill rolled his eyes. “Don’t try to change—”

“What the fuck just happened here?” Richie mumbled under his breath. They were almost at the shop now, and this was the first time he paid attention to their surroundings. On a normal day, he wouldn’t have until they’d been inside the shop, but on a normal day, there wouldn’t have been this many people around his house. As he paid closer attention, he could see the road outside and the walls seemed to be sprayed with a red substance. He hoped that red substance didn’t come from anyone he knew.

“I’m serious, Rich—”

“No, Bill,” the raven-haired boy shook his head, “look!”

He could tell the moment his friend registered the scene in front of them, as the blue-eyed boy tensed up immediately. Or perhaps it was because of the smell of metal in the air. “What the fuck?” Bill muttered, and without any signals, they both ran towards the crowd, forcing their way into the shop.

Fortunately, whoever had decided that ‘splattered blood’ would be their work of art for the day had picked the streets as their sole canvas, which meant nobody needed to clean or scrub anything today. There were several arrows stuck to the floor and the counter, which for some reason, nobody had removed them. All of their friends were also there — except Mike who was probably still at the farm, and they also seemed physically fine, so the blood didn’t belong to them. Bev and Ben looked concerned, but didn’t seem distraught, so Richie guessed whatever had happened, they hadn’t been here to witness it. They had probably rushed back here after picking up on people’s gossip. There was no doubt that Eddie was still in shock. The shortest boy was visibly shaking as he buried his face in Stan’s neck, letting their friend stroke his back soothingly.

Stan’s expression, however, was the most confusing. As soon as the blond noticed the lanky man’s return, he started glaring at Richie like he had been the cause of all this, or he should’ve been here to protect the place from whatever had happened. He’d seen Stan’s angry side a lot of time now, and to be fair, at least half of those times, he had been the cause. However, this was the one time he didn’t know what he did wrong, and it was also the time Stan looked the most furious.

“Don’t touch that!” Stan yelled, and for a moment, he wasn’t sure how to react to that, since he’d barely moved a muscle. However, the other boy’s gaze quickly moved onto Bill, who was about to remove the arrows on the floor. “They’re poisonous.”

“What— What happened?” Richie cleared his throat.

“A customer got attacked,” Stan gave a curt reply before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. It was clear that the curly-haired boy was still angry because Eddie was in distress, but it seemed like the rational part of his brain was trying to tell him he’d been directing his anger towards the wrong target, and he needed to control his temper. Richie didn’t take it to heart, though. He knew his friend was just upset, and he knew the other boy wasn’t really mad at him. He’d gladly be the clown if it helped his friends calm down.

“There were like, half a dozen assassins, I think,” Stan explained. “They were after the customer, and Eddie was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said the last part with his teeth gritted, as if he thought said customer should’ve led the killers somewhere else instead.

“So I’m guessing the blood outside belonged to that unfortunate guy?” Bill asked.

“No,” Stan shook his head. “Five of those assassins were wounded. Three mortally, I believe.”

“How do you even know all that?” Ben frowned at the curly-haired boy.

“I, uh,” Stan gulped, “I kind of got back in time and helped out a little.”

“What do you mean by ‘help out a little’?” Beverly’s eyes widened. “Stan! You just said they were assassins. You could’ve been killed.”

The other boy looked at the redhead, but didn’t say anything. Right then, Richie was reminded that he wasn’t the only one with secrets. As far as he could tell, his friend could’ve been a deserted assassin himself. That didn’t make Stan a different person, though. Stan was still Stan, with his sarcastic remarks and his judgemental gaze who still tried his hardest not to smirk at one of Richie’s jokes — and usually succeeded, too. Of course, everyone in this group had their own secrets, their own problems they carried around. After all, the ‘no questioning’ rule had existed before he’d joined them. In a way, everyone here either had lost something, or was trying to find something. _Themselves, a future, a safe haven, whatever it is._

“Ben?” Stan said tiredly. “Can you make something quick for Eddie? He’s still in shock, and I think that food will help a bit.”

“Sure,” the chef nodded before heading towards the kitchen.

“We’ll help him,” Bill offered with a smile, and he, Richie, and Bev all turned to follow Ben.

“Richie?” Eddie’s voice was muffled in Stan’s shoulder, but the raven-haired boy still managed to hear it. He turned around and raised an eyebrow, before slowly approaching the two. “Yeah, Eds?”

“Don’t call me that,” the short brunet huffed, and Richie took that as a sign that he’d calmed down a little more.

“You know that’s not gonna happen,” he chuckled. “So, what’s up?”

Eddie let out an annoyed groan, which had Stan’s lips twitch a little.

“That customer,” the shortest boy finally said, “he looks just like you.”

 

* * *

 

“Shit, Mikey, are you okay?” Will barged into the infirmary, where Mike had just finished taken his upper garment off to tend to his wound.

“I’m fine,” he smiled. “Just a little scratch. Nothing to worry about.”

“You and I have very different opinions about how a scratch should be,” Will huffed and pushed the taller boy down to properly examine the cut on his chest. “See, I call this a gash.”

“It’s really nothing, Will,” Mike tried again. It wasn’t that he disliked being taken care of by the shorter boy, but he knew his healer had been overworking these days, trying to prepare himself for almost any scenario when the five sovereigns met. The least Mike could do was to not add to that burden.

“I’m the Head Healer,” Will scoffed. “I will decide if it’s really nothing. Now, either you relieve me of my duty, or stay still so I can take care of my King!”

If Mike claimed his heart hadn’t skipped a beat at the possessive way Will said ‘my King’, he would’ve been a big fat liar. The brown-haired boy also seemed to have realized what he’d just said, since his cheeks were now turning pink. “I— I didn’t mean— Uh—”

“You’re good,” the raven-haired boy chuckled. “So, what have you been doing?”

“Oh no,” the shorter boy shook his head as he started cleaning the wound. “We’re not playing that right now. What have _you_ been doing that gave you this?”

“You know, just the same usual stuff,” Mike answered vaguely.

“So you left the castle and, what? Got scratched by a pitchfork?” Will shot him a look that clearly said ‘please don’t treat me like I’m stupid’.

“He got attacked,” Max’s voice interrupted them. As Mike and Will turned to the infirmary door, they were met with the tired look of both the Head of the Royal Guards and the Archmage. “Rumors travel fast, Mike, and I only know one person who might be able to fend off a dozen trained assassins.”

“What? A dozen?” Will’s voice went up an octave. “Michael!”

“Okay, that was an exaggeration,” the King winced. In the company of his friends, and especially of Will, he definitely didn’t feel like a king, but rather a teenager who had royally messed up. _And I'm not even a teenager anymore._ “There were only half a dozen of them, and I got help.”

“Yeah, you did,” El nodded. “I can still feel his magic on your clothes.”

“Whose magic?” Will frowned as he started cleaning the taller boy’s wound and applying medicine on them.

“A warlock, I guess?” Mike shrugged, trying to ignore the stinging feeling in his chest. “I didn’t have a chance to talk to him, but he used earth and wind magic. Gave me some cover, whipped up a sandstorm, redirecting their arrows, and I think his wind also cut them a bit.”

"Simple but effective,” El hummed. “He can’t damage anyone’s property when fighting on the street like that.”

“You talk like you know him,” Mike commented.

“Anyway,” Max interrupted, “word on the street is that you didn’t kill them.”

“I didn’t get the chance to,” the raven-haired boy shrugged. “They were skilled and experienced. They retreated when they knew they’d lose.”

“No doubt they were from Kolos, then?” Max raised an eyebrow, and Mike’s reply was a slow nod.

“Where’s Dustin, anyway?” Mike asked. “He must be so ecstatic knowing that he’s right again.”

“Haven’t seen him,” Max shrugged. “Haven’t seen Lucas either. I’m not sure if I want to know what they’re doing.”

“C’mon,” the raven-haired boy scrunched his nose, “They’re not fooling around. I’m sure Lucas is just trying to keep Dustin calm. After all, I _did_ let him deal with the Evil Queen.”

“If he comes back limping, I’ll say ‘I told you so’,” Max shrugged.

“Okay,” Will interrupted their conversation, “your wound is clean, and I’ve applied the medicine.” He turned towards El. “Can you do something so he’ll heal faster?” The hazel-eyed boy sighed. “I just know it’s gonna reopen when he inevitably does something stupid.”

“You know, I could have your head,” Mike huffed.

“You’ve been saying that since we were fourteen,” Will reminded the taller boy.

“I can try something,” El shrugged, “but His Royal Ass isn’t allowed to move until tomorrow morning, or it’ll get three times worse.” She then turned to him. “Of course, you can always go against my word again and see how it goes.”

“You didn’t have to remind me of that,” Mike scrunched his nose. “It still creeps me out that my papercut turned into a gash.”

“Then you can imagine what a gash will turn into,” the Archmage warned.

 

* * *

 

Dinner had been a little somber in Mike’s opinion. Of course, with everything that had happened that afternoon, it had been a bit difficult to ignore the elephant in the room. Even after dinner, everyone seemed to want to be left alone with their thoughts in their own corners — or at least, Eddie and Stan were together in their own world, Richie was lost in his own mind, and Bill was probably worrying over Richie. Beverly had already bid them goodnight before retreating to her quarters.

That left him with his own space on the roof to the boy’s side of the house. He loved climbing up here to look at the stars. Back on the farm, all he needed to do was head outside and lie down on the grass, but that was the thing about cities — the houses were too close to one another, they blocked half the night sky from the ground. Therefore, the only way to fully enjoy the stars was to climb up high.

Mike loved the night sky because his parents also loved it. When he was a kid, they’d all go lie down on the grass together and connect the dots in the sky until they formed some kind of shapes. Now he mostly watched it because he believed his parents were up there watching him every night.

“Knock, knock,” Ben said as he slowly climbed up. “Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all,” Mike chuckled and moved to make space for his company. “You’re staying here again tonight?”

That was something Ben had that everyone else didn’t — another place to rest his back. Like them, Ben was in this city alone, with no relatives, no one to be with or talk to at night. Unlike them, the guy was the chef of the biggest inn in the whole kingdom, which paid enough for him to afford a place of his own.

“I was hoping to stay here from now on,” Ben said sheepishly. “I don’t want to be alone at night anymore. Not when I know what it feels like to be surrounded by people I love and trust.”

Mike smiled softly at the chef’s words. “This place always has a room for you,” he said. “Especially with how lively our dinners have been,” the black guy chuckled. “You’re like a wizard. It’s impossible for any of us to even think of the combination you used with the ingredients.”

“Don’t sell yourself short there,” Ben nudged his shoulder lightly. “I’ve had your cooking, and it’s amazing.”

“And you took it and made it worthy to be served to the King himself,” Mike nudged back.

“I have someone who taught me all that, you know,” the chef said. “I know this boy, who understands herbs and spices more than anyone I’ve known. Too bad he prefers doing things other than cooking, though.”

“You have to introduce us some time,” Mike chuckled.

“Actually, I might,” Ben nodded. “He loves the ingredients and herbs from this store.”

Mike grinned and turned to his friend. “Glad to hear that. Everything in our store is the best of its kind.”

The chef didn’t say anything for a while, just looking back at Mike with a fond look. “Yeah,” he whispered, “I guess I can attest to that.”

Suddenly, Mike could feel something had shifted in the air between them. Ben’s cheeks suddenly became warmer, his lips looked softer, his eyes brighter. Or perhaps, his friend was still the same, but it was his own senses that had become sharper.

“You know,” the other man said softly, “as much as I love to cook for everyone, when I first offered it, I thought it’d be just me and you.”

“Yeah?” Mike chuckled as he leaned in a little. “I think it can be arranged. After all, I still have the old house at the farm.”

“How about tomorrow night, then?” Ben whispered. “I can whip up something for you and you only?”

“That sounds—”

“Oi, lovebirds,” Richie’s voice came from somewhere underneath them, “the roof is squeaky, so remember to be gentle.”

Immediately, there came Eddie’s squeaky voice, chiding his friend for interrupting the moment. Richie also shot back with something along the line of _‘they’re gonna starve us tomorrow’._

And that was when Mike realized they’d had an audience all along.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he laughed out loud. “Thanks, Rich. And Eddie. And Stan. And Bill.”

“What about me?” Beverly huffed.

“Sorry, milady,” Mike shook his head fondly, “I thought you already went to bed.”

“And miss all of this?” Bev asked. “You know we’ve been betting, right?”

“Wait, what bet?” Ben asked. “I want in.”

“You see, we were—”

Richie’s voice was interrupted by the deafening sound of their front door slamming against the wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments literally fuel my motivation, so please don't hesitate to even just yell at me for some dumb mistakes I made.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise surprise! A new update has arrived!
> 
> I did tell you something about this in the last chapter's note. This is my own punishment for breaking my updating schedule last week. You get a new chapter! You get a new chapter! Everybody gets a new chapter!
> 
> Enjoy!

Lucas’ lungs were burning. Every breath hurt. Every single one of his muscles felt like it was being stabbed by a hot metal sword. His knees were threatening to buckle after every step, but he couldn’t give up now. Everyone was depending on him. His boyfriend’s life depended on him. His idiotic boyfriend who had gotten both of them in this situation was now on his back, motionless. The last hour or two still felt so surreal that he wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t been dreaming. Nevertheless, he felt the need to run everything through his head again, just in case he lost consciousness somewhere on the road, there would be a higher chance of him saying something crucial in his dream state.

Dustin’s source had turned out to be a dead-end, which had been a surprise to no one but the brilliant advisor himself. Technically, it hadn’t been a dead end, but according to their source, the one who had bought the map belonged to a group of thieves. Dealing with thieves was way below their pay grade, and if Lucas was being honest, those thieves deserved to take anything they wanted if they could get inside the castle. He was about to give his boyfriend the well-deserved  _ ‘told you so’ _ when he spotted several suspicious shadows sneaking into what was supposed to be a construction site. Naturally, they’d both followed the shadows.

Those shadows had actually turned out to be part of the infamous assassins of Kolos, who, as they’d learned from eavesdropping, had just run away from an encounter with King Michael and a magic user. He’d initially thought they’d gone against Mike and El, but those assassins had seemed to be certain that it hadn’t been the Archmage’s magic. He remembered being so proud of Mike for being able to fend off those assassins, even if he’d had some help.

“Dustin? Baby?” His vision was starting to get blurry, and he could tell his muscles were about to give up. He wasn’t sure if it was because of exhaustion, blood loss, or of the poison in his system, but either way, he needed to think about something more positive than this particular night. That should be easy since he couldn’t think of a single positive thing about this night.

Lucas didn’t even know how they got spotted. Perhaps someone had breathed too hard, or perhaps someone had touched something they shouldn’t have and alerted them. All he knew was that one moment they were listening to the plan to attack the castle, the next, poisonous arrows and invisible spells were targeting them. Somewhere in the middle of that chaos, an arrow had grazed his cheek, and another had found his stomach. Somewhere in the middle of that chaos, another two had landed on his boyfriend’s back. The idiot probably hadn’t thought that the weapons could’ve been poisoned, since he’d acted tough until he’d collapsed because of the wound. At first, the curly-haired boy had still been able to talk to him, but now he could barely feel the rise and fall of his boyfriend’s chest. He needed to get to someone as fast as possible, but he didn’t even know who would be able to help. Will and El might be able to, if they knew about this particular poison. However, if they didn’t, and had to do their research, then Dustin would be as good—

_ No. _

That line of thought was not allowed to exist, _ever._ He would do anything to save his boyfriend. _ One foot at a time, _ he mentally told himself.  _ Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. _ They’d hidden until the enemy had left, undoubtedly to proceed with their plan to attack the castle. He would’ve done anything to stop them right then and there if he could, but even with half of them incapacitated thanks to Mike and whoever it had been, Lucas still would’ve been outnumbered by five to one. Those killers would’ve killed both him and Dustin before proceeding with their plan like nothing had happened.

He started leaning against the wall as he walked. Based on how his muscles were screaming at him, if he were to slip and fall, they wouldn’t be able to hoist him back up, let alone with the added weight of Dustin. On the bright side, nobody was chasing them, or they would’ve been captured half a mile ago. Right now he needed even the tiniest bit of good news to keep him going.

As he took another step, the wall he was leaning against collapsed. Or rather, it swung open. Or rather, the wall was a door, which had swung open when he’d leaned on it, and he’d collapsed onto the floor. This would be it for him. When the sun came up, if the kingdom still stood, Max would find the bodies of him and Dustin.

He could faintly hear the sound of footsteps, and for a brief moment, he thought Kolos had found them, before realizing those probably came from the occupants of the house they’d just intruded. He hoped they didn’t have children, because if they did, the kids would probably be scared to death.

The footsteps stopped, and he tried his best to look up at whoever had found them. There were four people in front of him. The closest guy was kneeling down, and he could feel fingers pressed against his pulse, but the other three stayed back. Or perhaps there were no other three, because there was no way that was who he thought it was.

“Mike?” He managed to say before everything went black.

 

* * *

 

At first, Richie had felt sorry for the thieves who had broken into his home. Not only because there wasn’t a lot of gold to steal in a place that housed six people sans Ben, but also because the occupants could’ve beat the shit out of them. Not that Mike would’ve let them or anything, but that was still a fun thought to linger on.

During that brief moment after he’d realized they weren’t thieves and before seeing the blood, he’d wanted to roll his eyes and splash the drunken idiots a bucket of water or two for interrupting Mike and Ben’s romantic moment. Finally, Richie’s heart plummeted the moment he realized who had just broken into their place. It felt like all his luck had expired on the same day, and the gods had put a huge sign saying  _ ‘This is where Prince Richard lives’ _ above this shop. First, if Eddie was a hundred percent certain, then Mike — his brother, not the friend he’d been living with — had visited this place, and had almost been assassinated. Sure, he’d always made jokes about how being targeted was one of the King’s official duties, but having it actually happen to someone close to him was another thing. And now, the Royal Advisor and a Royal Guard he personally knew were lying on the floor, both bleeding out. At least he hoped they were both bleeding out, since Dustin looked like he was already gone, and Lucas looked like he was about to join his friend soon. Bill was already checking on them, while he, Mike, and Stan were waiting in the back.

“Mike?” He heard the Royal Guard said weakly before finally fainting. Almost immediately, Bill turned around.

“You know them?” He asked.

_ This is it. The cat is out of the bag now. _

“I don’t think so,” he heard Mike answered next to him, and that was when Richie realized Bill hadn’t asked him.

“Well, this guy said your name,” Bill shrugged before turning back to the two unconscious bodies on the floor. “They’re both alive, but I’m not sure if we can keep them that way.”

“We have to try,” Mike said before approaching Bill, each of them trying to lift Dustin up from one side. “Richie, Stan, can you help us with the other guy? We should get them upstairs.”

“Sure,” Stan said and walked past him. Richie had to remind himself to move as well.

The stairs weren’t built for people to be carried up like this, so they were less than graceful during their relatively short journey — at least he was certain that was shorter than however long Lucas had walked — but neither boy made a sound. All he could hear was the breathing of Stan, Mike, Bill, and him, and eventually, a loud gasp when they opened the boys’ room.

“Please tell me you guys didn’t do this,” Bev scrunched her nose.

“What? No!” Bill said incredulously. “They stumbled into the shop looking like this. Thank Richie for not locking the door.”

“Well, I didn’t know Benthony here decided to stay over, did I?” He rolled his eyes as they all set the two boys down on Mike’s mattress. Eddie immediately rushed over to check on them.

“They’re really weak,” he said miserably.

“Poison,” Stan said. “The same kind that was on the arrows. This guy has an hour left,” he said, gesturing at Lucas, “that one has less.”

Richie didn’t even have the energy to question how Stan knew all of that. The blond boy had only touched Lucas, after all, and he doubted even Will could do that. However, he was about to watch two of his childhood friends die, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Shit,” Ben cursed. “I know a healer, but there’s no way I can get him here fast enough.”

While everyone was focusing on the two lifeless bodies, Richie noticed Eddie was frowning at Stan, who was staring back at the other boy. They were having one of those private nonverbal debates that friends who’d known each other their whole lives could have. He knew because he’d eliminated the possibility that either of them could read minds by randomly screaming in his head.

“Guys?” Eddie cleared his throat and turned towards the other. Apparently, he’d won that debate. “I can help them,” the brunet said sheepishly, “but please don’t freak out.” He approached the mattress and put his hand on Dustin’s forehead.

And he started glowing.

Richie had never seen anything like that in his life. He’d read about it a long time ago, but he’d never thought he would witness it happen in real life. At first, Eddie’s hand was the only thing that glowed, but the light quickly enveloped his entire body. The cuts and bruises on Dustin’s face were fading away. Or, to be more precise, those cuts and bruises seemed to be moving from the curly-haired boy’s face to Eddie’s, before quickly being healed there. Blood started to seep through the short boy’s shirt on his back, at the exact same spots Dustin’s wounds were, and he could only assume those wounds were also closing up on the Royal Advisor’s back.

“Holy—”

Before he could finish that sentence, he was yanked out of the room by Stan.

“Don’t say a word to them,” the blond boy warned.

“But that’s—”

“I know what it is,” Stan shot him a look, and Richie’s eyes widened.

“You knew,” he whispered.

“Knew what?” The other boy raised an eyebrow. “Knew that he’s the supposedly kidnapped Prince Edward Kaspbrak, son of King Frank and Queen Sonia Kaspbrak, and the rightful heir of Avenia? Yes, I knew.”

“How did you—?”

“How do you think he escaped from a bunch of Kolos troops?” Stan huffed. “I helped him.” His eyes turned sad as he looked away. “They took me from my family because they wanted to turn me into one of their wizards. I decided that I didn’t want that, and I didn’t want them to use Eddie either, so we escaped.”

“Why didn’t you return him to Avenia?” Richie frowned.

“He begged me not to,” the other boy sighed. “To him, going back would be the same as being a prisoner of Kolos. Since the King died, the Queen had locked him away and made all his decisions for him, even forcing him to marry Princess Greta of Dania because she wanted power.”

Richie could recall a distant conversation with his father and his brother about how the late king would never ask his children to marry someone they didn’t love. Apparently, that wasn’t a popular trait among rulers. “I see,” he whispered.

“So, since we couldn’t stay in my kingdom, and we couldn’t go to his either, we had to go to a third one, preferably one with a wise ruler,” Stan shrugged. “So we ended up here.”

“Why didn’t you tell us, then?” Richie frowned. “We still would’ve accepted him, and you guys wouldn’t have to carry that secret alone.”

“You’re asking me why he didn’t tell you he was a prince living a poor life among farmers and thieves?” The other boy raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t already have the answer, Your Highness?”

His mouth was agape even before he heard the honorific. “Y-You knew that, too?”

“I’ve had my suspicions,” Stan said. “When you first lived with us, you had horrible etiquette for a prince, but I could still tell it was still a prince’s, since that was similar to Eddie when I first met him,” he explained. “Plus, like I told you, Kolos wanted to turn me into one of their wizards. I have magic, and I can feel that you do, too. Didn’t have anything to compare that to until I felt your brother’s magic this afternoon, though. That was when I became certain of your status.”

“Does Eddie know?” Richie asked.

“I haven’t told him yet,” the other boy shrugged.

“That’s why you were glaring at me,” the lanky boy hummed. “You were mad at my brother.”

“Kolos could’ve found me,” Stan huffed, “or worse, Eddie. I had to cast a spell on this shop. It was the same spell your Archmage used to protect your Chamber of Knowledge.”

“You know El?” Richie raised an eyebrow.

“We talk occasionally,” the blond boy said vaguely.

“By the way,” the taller boy said, “you know our secrets are out, right?” When Stan only shot him a quizzical look, he continued. “The guy Eddie was healing is the Royal Advisor, so there’s no way he wouldn’t know Eddie was the lost prince. After all, it’s his job to know that _that_ ability can only be inherited by the children of the Kaspbrak bloodline,” he said as he recalled the lessons about the powers of each royal family. “The other guy is also a Royal Guard, and since I know both of them personally, I’m in huge trouble, too.”

“I knew that guy didn’t really know Mike,” Stan mumbled. “Shit. This is bad.”

“Don’t worry,” Richie sighed. “They’re both good people, so I’m sure they’ll keep the secret of the guy who saved their lives.”

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” the other boy groaned. “Let’s get back inside and see.”

 

* * *

 

Bill was worried that Eddie might’ve been overexerting himself, but he had to trust his friend to know his limits. After all, it was clear to him that the brunet was transferring the other boy’s wounds onto himself.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew most people in their group had secrets, and this was part of Eddie’s. He also knew that, up until now, Stan had been the only one who knew most, if not all of the other boy’s secrets. That might’ve changed already, since a little while ago, Stan had dragged Richie out of the room, and they’d come back with a mutual understanding. That had only left a  _ slightly _ bitter taste in his mouth. The ginger boy wasn’t unreasonable — he knew that his friends were free to do anything they wanted — but he’d hoped that he would know more of Richie’s secrets than anyone else, and Richie would know his the most. After all, he’d just told the raven-haired boy something he’d never told anyone else earlier that afternoon.

Not until the first boy groaned and slowly opened his eyes did Eddie move on to the second one. He looked like he was working harder than he’d ever done in his life. In a way, Bill guessed that was true.

“Mike?” The guy Eddie had just healed said weakly as his eyes scanned around the room. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry,” Mike said, “but do I know you?”

The stranger’s eyes moved back to Mike. “Who are you?”

“You said my name just now?” The shop owner reminded their guest. “I’m Mike.”

The guy’s eyes widened before darting to something behind Bill. His expression changed rapidly, from recognition to shock to anger in just a snap of a finger. “You son of—!” He suddenly sat up, only to abruptly stopped talking, wincing as he hugged his stomach.

“Please don’t overexert yourself,” Eddie said weakly. “You just recovered.”

The guy turned to look at the brunet, then down to his unconscious friend, then back up at his savior, his expression more or less the same as before, sans the anger.

“Yeah, don’t overexert yourself, Dusty,” Richie said. “We don’t want you to die now, do we?”

And just like that, the anger was back, and suddenly Bill realized who this boy had just recognized.

“Don’t you fucking dare ‘Dusty’ me,” the guy seethed. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put us through? And you’ve been living right under our noses all this time?”

“Look,” Richie sighed, “we both know I’m not the right choice—”

“Oh, is  _ that _ what you think I’m mad about?” The guy asked incredulously. “You disappeared without a word to anyone. I thought we were friends. Friends don’t do that, Richie. Families don’t do that either.”

“You guys would’ve stopped me,” Richie mumbled.

“Of course we would’ve! That’s what friends do.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Bev cleared her throat, “but what’s happening here?”

The two boys turned to look at everyone as if they’d just remembered they weren’t alone. The stranger quickly turned back to Richie. “Care to introduce us, Your Highness?”

Bill’s eyes bulged out when he heard the sentence. “I’m sorry,  _ what _ now?”

“Dustin,” Richie groaned.

“Oh, hasn’t he told you?” The guy, whose name Bill believed was Dustin, huffed. “This is Prince Richard of Belena, the supposedly Crown Prince of this kingdom.”

“Who you guys declared dead, by the way,” Richie — Prince Richard — rolled his eyes. “I’m guessing it was your idea.”

“We couldn’t exactly announce that you ran away the day before you were supposed to be crowned, could we?” Dustin scoffed. “The Ischyrus Council wouldn’t have accepted  _ either _ of you if they’d found out, and we would’ve been at war, with no allies whatsoever for the last five years.”

As Bill’s eyes scanned the room, he could see the shock he was feeling mirrored on all his friends’ faces — all but Stan’s, because of course Stan knew.

Which meant this wasn’t an elaborate prank Richie had thought of, because there was no way in hell Stan would’ve gone through with this kind of prank without telling Eddie first, and it was clear as day that the brunet didn’t know either, if that shocked and panicked expression told him anything.

“You know what?” Beverly suddenly said. “This is just too many surprises in one day for me. First, I learned that Stan was capable of taking on— What did you call them again?  _ Assassins, _ right?” She asked the blond boy. “Then Eddie glowed and brought this guy back from the brink of death. Now Richie is suddenly a prince?”

“You fought the assassins?” Dustin raised an eyebrow at Stan. “Don’t suppose you were the one who helped the King out this afternoon, do you?”

“That was the King?” Eddie squeaked. He’d stopped glowing, so Bill guessed the other guy was about to wake up too.

“You know,” the curly-haired guest turned to the brunet, “I can already tell you’re a lot nicer than your mother. She’s been driving me crazy.”

Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say, since Eddie’s face immediately turned white.

“Hold up,” Ben interrupted. “Who’s Eddie’s mom?”

“Oh my—”

“Dustin,” the other boy’s groaned was interrupted by his friend slowly getting up.

“Lucas! Oh my goodness Lucas!” Dustin immediately turned around and pulled his friend in for a hug, making the other boy groan.

“Are we dead? Because I expect it to hurt a lot less in heaven.”

“No, you’re not,” Dustin mumbled. “You’re not getting away from me that easily.”

“In that case, assassins, castle,” the guy called Lucas reminded his friend —  _ boyfriend? _

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light that was definitely too bright for this time of the night, forcing Bill to close his eyes for a moment. Based on the groan he heard, his friends also shared the same fate. When he finally managed to open his eyes, Richie was standing where the source was supposed to be, his face more serious than Bill had ever seen.

“Tell me everything,” he demanded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Want to see more of some of your favorite characters? Let me know in the comments below.
> 
> This fic is coming to an end soon. Is there anything you wanna see that you're not sure will be in it? Let me know and maybe I'll be able to work something out.
> 
> Until next time!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back?
> 
> I'm so sorry for disappearing for like a decade. There's a long list of excuses but I don't suppose you're interested in that. Hope this chapter is worth the wait.
> 
> Enjoy!

Will was feeling a bit anxious this particular night.

Okay, maybe  _ ‘a bit’ _ was slightly downplaying it. Mike had just been attacked by a bunch of assassins, for heaven’s sake, and there was no doubt in his mind that as soon as morning came, the King would want to deal with the problem before the council’s meeting. That was why he’d asked El to quickly heal their idiotic friend, after all. From experience, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop Mike from doing it, so the least he could do was make sure his best friend would be in his best shape by morning. Unfortunately, that meant the King was essentially an easy target tonight should anyone try to attack.

“You know,” Mike’s voice snapped him out of his train of thought, “you don’t have to worry that much about me.”

The hazel-eyed man was currently sitting in the King’s chamber, or to be more precise, by the King’s bed, and making sure that the idiot didn’t have any reason to move. El had also told them to stay close to each other, and to stick to the East Wing of the castle unless it was necessary to move, so he assumed she’d cast some sort of protection spells because one could never be too careful in this age. 

“Of course I do,” the healer huffed, “it’s literally my job to keep you alive and healthy.”

“But it’s not your job alone,” the King rolled his eyes. “That’s why we have El and Max, as well as the rest of the Royal Guards.”

“It’s also my job as your friend to worry about you and your idiocy,” Will snorted. “I’ve known you since we were twelve, and I just know  _ Your Highness _ is going to do something stupid like chasing after the ones trying to kill him first thing in the morning.”

“What am I supposed to do, then?” Mike huffed. “Sit still and let them come and kill me?”

“Sit still and let the Royal Guards handle it,” the shorter man corrected. When he saw the sovereign about to interrupt, the healer quickly continued. “I’m not saying that it’s cool to let others die for you, but your life is a lot more valuable than any of ours.”

“You sound exactly like Dustin, you know,” Mike rolled his eyes.

“Can’t tell if you’re trying to compliment or insult me,” Will chuckled. “But jokes aside, you know we’re right about this. We’re replaceable. There’s always another guard, healer, or mage, but if you die, this whole kingdom will be in grave danger. Plus, you literally just said that there’s a whole army out there to keep you safe, so why not make their lives a little easier?”

The King huffed and looked away, and he counted that as a win. In matters like this one, he didn’t get those too often — mostly because his best friend tended to do things anyway no matter what he said — so he’d take what he could. After all, there had been countless times when he found Mike with various degrees of injuries that totally could’ve been prevented — like the time the young ruler single-handedly defeated a group of bandits without waiting for his army because he ‘wanted a challenge,’ or something similar. It had come as a slight surprise seeing that the very same guy was capable of making wise decisions for the whole kingdom, but he supposed being in charge of the lives of everyone in the country was slightly different from being in charge of one’s own safety.

“For the record, though,” Mike suddenly said quietly, pulling him out of his thoughts, “you’re not replaceable. Not to me.”

Will blinked as he tried to process the raven-haired boy’s words without blushing, and he could tell that he was failing miserably. “Well, I certainly hope so,” he let out a chuckle. “It would be a bummer if you could easily replace any of your friends, but I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I didn’t mean it like that either,” his friend rolled his eyes. “I mean, of course I can’t replace Dustin, or Lucas, or Max, or El, but they’re different.”

The healer’s heart skipped a beat at that, and he had to try to remember if he’d used some kind of hallucination herbs today.  _ Not that I can remember, unless there was something strange in Ben’s herbs. _ “D-Different? Different how?” The King couldn’t possibly be saying what he thought the guy was saying.

Mike groaned and made a move to sit up before remembering his situation. “You’re seriously gonna make me say it? I’m not good at this, you know?”

“What? At talking? Are we still talking about you?” The brown-haired boy raised an eyebrow.

“Cut the attitude, asshole,” the other boy scoffed. “It’s already hard enough without your sass.”

Will couldn’t help it. It was extremely easy for him to banter with Mike, especially when he thought the conversation was getting too serious and he hadn’t had time to prepare for that — which he definitely hadn’t at the moment. However, he also knew that this would be one of those conversations that shouldn’t be postponed.

“Okay,” Mike cleared his throat, “what I’m trying to say is, you’re important to me, Will.” The healer could hear his friend take a deep breath to calm himself down. “You said my life is more valuable than yours, but to me, you’re definitely the most important person in the world.”

The hazel-eyed boy wasn’t stupid. He knew what his friend’s words  _ probably _ meant. Still, he felt like he needed to make sure. “You mean, like a friendly way?”

“What? No!” The taller boy exclaimed incredulously. “C’mon, Will. Work with me here. You’re smarter than this.”

“Once again, I have no idea if I should be flattered or offended,” the brown-haired boy chuckled nervously, but stopped when he saw the look on his friend’s face. “Right, sorry,” he mumbled. “So, why now?”

“The council,” the young king mumbled. “They’re all gonna be here soon, some will bring their heirs with them. I wanna have a reason that won’t spark a war to decline their ideas of strengthening the bonds between countries.” After a quick pause, he continued, his pale cheeks reddening. “Plus, the way you called me your King was kind of hot.”

If there was one thing Mike could say to make Will’s face even redder than normal, it was probably that last one. “I— I didn’t mean to call you like that.”

“Yes, you did,” the other boy rolled his eyes. “That was actually why I decided I should tell you, by the way. I wasn’t really sure if you felt the same way or not before that. So, what do you say?”

_ What do I say? What else can I say in this situation? _ He’d been daydreaming about the other boy since the first day he was in the palace. He’d been dreaming of hearing this question since—  _ Wait. _ “What do I say? To what? You haven’t asked me anything,” the healer sent his friend a cheeky grin.

“Seriously?” Mike groaned. “William Byers, are you trying to kill me? Because it’s kind of working.”

The shorter boy chuckled and stood up as his eyes focus on the King’s blushing cheeks. “That was for bringing up  _ the thing _ earlier.” He pretended to think for a moment before continuing. “What do I say? I don’t know, Mike. Maybe you can ask me tomorrow when you’re all healed up.” He definitely didn’t need to do that, but at the same time, that might mean the raven-haired boy would stay out of trouble for one more day, and he’d take whatever he could. “Let me go grab you more potions. I’ll be right back,” he said and leaned down to plant a quick peck to Mike’s cheeks before turning around and leaving the room. He definitely didn’t need to grab anything, but if he stayed there for another moment, he’d most probably lose his cool, and one wouldn’t want to do that in front of their future boyfriend, even if said boyfriend had seen a lot of other equally ridiculous behaviors from him. He needed to gush about this with Max. Or El. Or Dustin or Lucas. Any of his other friends, basically.

The moment he left the room, Will immediately realized something was happening. The two guards positioned outside the King’s chamber were leaning against the wall sleeping, and that couldn’t be a good sign. After a minute or so of walking, he found more unconscious guards, and by the time he found Max — also unconscious, the young healer could even hear faint rumbling coming from the opposite wing of the castle from where he and Mike were staying.  _ That can’t be good. _

When he finally got to the source of the disturbance — the moonlit hallway with one side looking out the training ground — what Will saw was something he never thought he would see in his life. Sure, he knew that theoretically, the castle could always be under attack, but seeing El fend off six people in black robes trying to shoot arrows and fireballs at her shield meant it was something else. Okay, technically, three people were shooting arrows at her shield, while two of them were trying various combinations of spells to throw at the brunette. One person just seemed to be standing there, doing nothing, but the healer supposed that one was also casting some sort of spells that didn’t leave any visible signs. Either that or that one had gotten hit by El’s binding spell. He had no idea why they even wanted to go to that wing, but the Archmage was doing everything in her power not to let them through.

Another spell collided with El’s shield, and the force of the blast pushed Will back a little, which turned out to save his life since not even one moment later, an arrow passed through where his head should’ve been and hit the suit of armor near the wall, knocking it down with a loud sound. That was when he realized there were more assassins hiding somewhere on the other side of the yard, waiting for an opening.

“Oh, look,” someone said, startling Will as his eyes shot back to one of the bow-and-arrow guys, who had just turned around to make eye contact with him, “someone escaped the Sleeping Spell, after all.” The guy’s face was painted over, with his eyes painted like they were on some sort of horns, and dark swirly smokes on his cheeks. Those swirly patterns also appeared on their robes in shiny black threads on top of the regular black fabric, so that one could only see them if the light hit them just right.

The only reason he admired the assassin’s appearance was that there was no way the small healer would be able to outrun a killer dashing towards him with a sword. Based on El’s current situation, he doubted the Archmage was able to save him anyway.  _ Should’ve answered Mike earlier, _ he thought as he braced himself for the fate that was awaiting him, whether it was death or being held captive to force El to bring down the barrier. In either scenario, he was most likely going to get stabbed.

Suddenly, a bright column of light appeared in front of him that forced him to close his eyes for a moment, and Will knew his knight — or king — in shining armor had appeared to save the day when the unmistakable sound of swords clashing against each other rang through the hallway. When his vision finally got back to normal, he could see the assassin’s surprised expression when his sword collided with Mike’s—  _ Wait, that’s not Mike’s sword. And those aren’t his clothes. And that’s not his hair either. _

“Hi there, Mushroom,” the playful voice he never thought he would hear again greeted as Richie turned to him with a smirk. “Need a hand or two?”

 

* * *

 

It had been a long night for El, and had been the single busiest night of her entire life. Sometime after she’d parted ways with  _ the pining couple, _ her magical barrier around the castle had warned her about eight individuals entering the castle area, three of them possessing formidable magical power, and everything after that up to the moment the blinding column of light appeared had been a blur. She’d just managed to cast a protection circle around herself and activated the magic signet ring the King always wore before they were hit with the most powerful sleeping charm she’d ever felt. Fortunately, the ring was imbued with enough magic to prevent the King and anyone close to him from being affected by any kind of arcane magic — even scrying spells — so hopefully, Mike and Will were okay. The unfortunate thing was, unless the Archmage of Avenia was exceptionally powerful, which she knew he wasn’t, everyone protecting Queen Sonia was probably in deep sleep right now. That was why she needed to lure the assassins away with the false presence of King Michael on the opposite wing of the castle.

If she had been in a contest with these people, a one-against-three match would’ve been too easy. However, this wasn’t the case, and aside from having to worry about those three, she also needed to actively expand the magic shield around Mike so it would envelop the chamber of the Avenians, maintain the illusion that the King was actually behind her which had to be powerful enough to fool these high-leveled magic users, and create a magic shield strong enough to withstand these people’s attack. That barely gave her enough space to go on the offense without giving them an opening. So, when she felt another seven figures entering the barrier, three of them possessing magic, the girl almost let out a loud groan.

_ Almost. _ Two of the magical sources had extremely familiar signatures, and she knew those were her reinforcement. One of them she’d just sparred with earlier that day, and whose magic she’d also felt on the King’s clothes, and the other magic had felt so much like Mike’s that if she hadn’t known where the raven-haired monarch was, she would’ve thought that he’d just come back to the castle.  _ I can’t believe that Stan and Richie actually know each other. _

El didn’t even realize Will was there until after Richie’s appearance. Somehow, the runaway prince had shown up at the perfect moment to intercept the blade that had been aimed at the healer. The column of light had also attracted the attention of pretty much everyone else in the area since almost immediately, the two assassins who had been hiding from afar started shooting at their newest target, and the ones that had been targeting the barrier began to shift target as well.  _ Big mistake, _ she smirked and released the magic shield before extending a hand towards the three spellcasters that were now turning their backs on her and mumbling a few quiet words. Immediately, three bolts of lightning arced towards them, shocking them down to their knees. “Focus, children,” she chided as two balls of fire appeared in her hands.  _ This is gonna end real soon. _

The Archmage could see that Richie was doing fine on his own, fending off two Kolos assassins while deflecting the arrows targeting him. For someone who hadn’t used his powers in years, that was extremely impressive. Somewhere close to Richie, a redheaded boy was also fighting off an assassin. This boy was struggling a little, but since she believed that a lot of their trained Royal Guards would also have a difficult time fighting one of Kolos’ bests, the guy wasn’t doing half bad. Lucas and Dustin had also shown up, although neither of them looked like they were in good shape. Will was currently talking to them and a brunet who radiated a faint but strong magic aura. A redheaded girl had taken what she believed to be Lucas’ bow and arrows and was shooting at the two assassins hiding in the training yard. From the frequency of the arrows, she must’ve taken down one of them already. Last but not least, Stan was looking at her with a smirk, and El immediately knew what was about to happen. To be completely fair, these three weren’t weak, but there was no way they could take on the two most powerful spellcasters in Belena. The curly-haired warlock knelt down and touched the ground, and suddenly vines started growing under the three assassins’ feet, rapidly wrapping around the intruders.

They never even had a chance to react before El hit them with her Paralyzing Spell.

 

* * *

 

Bill believed one could only be exposed to a certain amount of surprises before one stopped feeling the shock, and he’d definitely passed that line already. Learning about the attack on the shop and knowing that Stan had helped the mysterious customer fend off a bunch of assassins? It had taken him the entire evening to process that information. Discovering that Eddie could perform healing magic? He’d just come to terms with it. Hearing that the mysterious customer was the King, and also the younger brother of his crush, who also was of royal blood and could appear anywhere with a column of light, and that Eddie was also somehow a lost prince?  _ Seen it. Still working on believing it. _

However, as of right now, witnessing Bev using this Lucas guy’s bow to shoot enemies hiding in the shadow as if she’d been a professional at this her entire life while seeing Stan summon vines to bind three of the people in black robes with the cockiness of Ben in the kitchen, he found himself thinking  _ ‘this might as well happen’ _ since apparently, today was the day all hell broke loose and nothing was too crazy to come true. His chef friend could probably turn into a dragon and fly here and it wouldn’t phase him anymore.

His opponent was definitely giving him a hard time, but fortunately, Richie’s training hadn’t been a waste, since he was still capable of defending himself against a professional killer. It was also quite obvious from the way his friend took on twice the number of opponents he had and still found time to stop incoming arrows from hitting anyone that the raven-haired boy had been going easy on him. Instead of a series of  _ parry, parry, dodge, step back, parry  _ like Bill, the Trashmouth had actually managed to go on the offense. From the look of it, he was also winning as—

Another blinding flash appeared, and he found himself being pushed back the same time the sound of swords clashing rang through his ears. “I know my ass looks hot,” Richie said before he could regain his vision, “but you seriously need to focus on your own opponent, Bill.”

By the time he could see again, which couldn’t have been more than three heartbeats later, the battle had ended. Bev had seemingly taken down all the ranged assassins, and Stan’s vines were binding the two that Richie had taken on earlier. The mage —  _ Archmage _ — was holding three of them under some sort of magic that made them unable to do anything, and Richie had just disarmed the last one in one swift move. It didn’t seem like they had required his assistance, after all.

“You okay?” Richie asked, his sword pointed at Bill’s old opponent lazily

“Y-Yeah,” he said sheepishly, and the redhead had to fight the feeling that he’d been a burden to everyone.

“Don’t beat yourself up,” the other boy said as if he’d read his mind. “Do you think there are many people who can hold their ground when facing a trained Kolos assassin?”

“He’s right,” Lucas agreed. “You’re really impressive, and that’s coming from the Second in Command of the Royal Guards.”

“Shit, Lukey,” Richie whistled, “I didn’t know you were the second in command.”

“Well, I didn’t know you were alive, dipshit,” the other boy huffed before sending his boyfriend a glare.

“I already told you,” Dustin groaned. “It was a need-to-know basis kind of thing. Max doesn’t even know.”

“I don’t believe Max’s boyfriend knew Richie was alive but decided to keep it from her,” the archer grumbled and crossed his arms in what Bill would’ve called a childish manner if he hadn’t wanted to do exactly the same earlier when Stan had dragged Richie outside. Lucas’ behavior was definitely justified.

“Actually,” Bev cleared her throat, catching the attention of everyone, “technically, Max’s  _ girlfriend _ knows that Richie is alive, although I didn’t know he was the dead prince.”

Apparently, everyone else was still capable of feeling surprised.

“Wha—?”

“Max’s girl—”

“Wait, you know Max?”

“Who’s Max?”

The last question belonged to Bill since he was definitely not a fan of not knowing whoever everyone was talking about.

“Head of the Royal Guards,” the Archmage answered as she approached them and put her hand on the guy on the other end of Richie’s sword, and he collapsed like a puppet with his strings cut. “I’m El,” the girl introduced, “and they were right. You were doing great. And you,” the brunette turned around and crossed her arms, staring not at Richie, but at Stan, “you never told me you knew the prince.”

“To be fair, I wasn’t completely sure it was him until the attack at our shop,” the curly-haired boy shrugged.

“But you did have your suspicions,” the girl countered. “There’s no way you—”

“Hold on!” Richie interrupted the conversation. “Does  _ everyone _ know someone in the castle?”

Bill had also come to that conclusion. All he needed to do now was to find out who Ben and Mike might know in this place. “I don’t,” he raised his hand.

“Wow, Richie,” Dustin snorted, “you can’t possibly pick a safer group to lay low.”

“You guys couldn’t find me in five years,” the raven-haired boy countered. “I think I did a pretty good job.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Stan cleared his throat, “but where’s Eddie?”

It didn’t occur to Bill until the curly-haired boy pointed it out that his friend was nowhere to be seen, and neither was the boy Richie had saved earlier.

“Oh, he’s going with Will,” Dustin said like he’d forgotten that he had to deliver the message. “Will told us about the King’s situation, and he said he could help with his…  _ thing, _ you know?”

“His thing?” El asked.

“Long story,” Richie shrugged.

“And all of you thought it was a good idea to let two people with no ability to defend themselves whatsoever wander the castle alone?” Stan asked incredulously.

“This place is completely sa—”

“Safe?” Stan was looking at Lucas like he’d just grown a second head. “You call  _ this _ safe?” He gestured towards the motionless assassins on the ground. “The hallways are full of unconscious guards, and we just fought a bunch of—”

“I’m sure they’re perfectly safe,” Richie interrupted. “If there are more, El would’ve known already. There’s a really strong barrier around this castle to—”

Suddenly Richie stopped talking, his eyes widened as if he’d just realized he hadn’t extinguished the campfire near the Hanlon farm, and everything could’ve burned to the ground already. A quick look around told him that Dustin and Lucas were just as clueless about whatever this was as him, but Stan and El knew exactly what had just happened.

“Guys?” Richie’s voice cracked. “Run.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think about this? Has my writing gone down after all? Let me know in the comments.
> 
> Found any mistake I made? Spotted me using the wrong your? Let me know as well so I can fix it asap.
> 
> I guess we'll say goodbye to my old updating schedule after all. However, I still have every intention to finish this fic and every single one I've started, one at a time, so don't lose hope if you're interested.
> 
> I'll get the next chapter up before February ends. Until then.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, Seeki, for finally proofreading this.
> 
> Hello everyone, and welcome to the next-to-last chapter of The Lost Prince. Hope you won't be disappointed.
> 
> Enjoy!

_ This is bad, _ Stan thought.  _ This is really bad. _ Maybe they had been slightly arrogant after all, or slightly naive when they believed Kolos would send a dozen ordinary assassins to take down a well-protected target. He didn’t know how many more had just entered the barrier, but the warlock knew that another spellcaster had entered the battle. This one wasn’t the same as the other three, whom El could fend off while maintaining several high-leveled spells. He didn’t even think he could take on this opponent alone, so if there were half a dozen more, coming to this castle would be the stupidest decision he’d ever made.

“Just one,” El said quietly, answering the question he wanted to ask. At least they didn’t have to split up to deal with this threat. This source of magic was also approaching them slowly, probably drawn to his and the Archmage’s magic. Experienced magic users like himself could detect strong magic from afar, so he could tell that whoever it was was also not in a hurry to get to them. That also meant he shouldn’t go anywhere lest he draw attention to Eddie. Also, since even Richie could feel the suffocating aura, it didn’t seem like the person was trying to hide. More likely, this spellcaster wanted to make his presence known, to plant fear in his opponents’ mind, to cause chaos even before the battle began.

“For the last time, Richie,” Bill protested, “I’m not gonna leave you behind.”

“You’re gonna get yourself killed,” Richie said exasperatedly. “This one is a lot stronger than these goons.”

“The more reason I should stay,” the blue-eyed boy huffed. “You’re gonna need all the help you can get.”

“Bill…”

“No! What did you train me for? Isn’t this something a Royal Guard is supposed to do? Protect the royalties?”

“You’re not a Royal Guard yet!” The prince countered.

“I’m not gonna let my family be taken from me again!” The auburn-haired boy groaned.

Dustin, Lucas, and Bev had all left them like they’d been told. Unlike Bill, they understood that them being here wasn’t as helpful as it was a liability. However, Stan didn’t expect Bill to behave any differently either. Ever since he’d first known his friend, the guy had always tried to be some kind of a big brother to everyone in their group. He would’ve been concerned if their leader had agreed to stay in the back.

“We can’t force him to leave, Richie,” Stan sighed. “Let him stay if he wants to.”

“You can’t be se—”

“Stan is right, Richie,” El interrupted. “What if he decides to try and attack this guy before he gets here?”

He didn’t know if that thought had popped into Bill’s mind yet, but it was bound to happen anyway, so the girl pointing it out didn’t really matter. Furthermore, as soon as he made eye contact with the Archmage, he knew they were thinking about the same thing.  _ There’s a way to protect Bill even if he’s here. _ Richie looked like he was racking his brain trying to think of something, anything to keep the redhead out of danger. Meanwhile, Bill was looking so smug, one could have assumed he’d just won something a lot more significant than that.  _ He’s probably gonna hate me later. _

“He’s close,” El warned as she tossed Stan an enchanted round ruby pendant. “Get ready,” she said before starting to summon several orbs of different colors around her, and he also started drawing invisible glyphs in the air while whispering spells that he’d just learned earlier that day. Neither Richie nor Bill knew what to do, but since there wasn't anything they could do right now either, it didn’t really matter. They just stood there next to him with their swords ready, which was probably good enough.

The moment the new threat came into view, Stan released the spell he’d been preparing, and a magical dome in the shape of the ruby expanded from his new necklace to envelop the entire castle. Bill immediately disappeared when the field passed him, and so did most of the other assassins, but Richie, El, and the guy approaching them were still here. 

“Wait, what just happened?” Richie asked as he noticed one of them had just gone missing.

“I just trapped us in this place,” Stan explained. “El called it the Mirror Plane, which mirrors the space around it at the time it was cast.”

“But whatever damage we do in this place won’t affect the real world,” the Archmage said as her spheres started spinning around her, whipping up strong winds as she began to levitate. “So I can do this,” she said and held out her arm, and a bright blue magical ball stopped in front of her. White-hot lightning immediately shot out from it towards the dark wizard, and had his reaction been any slower, he would’ve evaporated by now. Instead, a magical shield deflected the lightning, and as a result, a suit of armor along the nearby wall melted instead.

“Okay,” Richie nodded. “But why am I here and Bill isn’t? And why are these three— Oh!”

Stan knew the other boy had realized the answer, so he didn’t have to say anything. The three spellcasters who had attacked El earlier were here as well, along with Richie. However, none of those who couldn’t use magic were here. This was an effect of this spell as well, so one couldn’t just trap someone in here for all eternity. Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly pick who was affected by this spell and who wasn’t, so Richie was here with the three useless assassins.  _ And Eddie, too. He’s somewhere in this place. _ “The only way to get out of here is to dispel the magic on this pendant,” he continued. “We need to make— Shit!”

He should’ve known not to be distracted while fighting someone of this caliber. The warlock barely managed to kick Richie out of the way before a shadowy spear landed between them. El had also deflected another one, but a third spear had been aimed at one of the Kolos assassins, whom none of them had thought to protect. The eldritch spear slowly  _ melted, _ for lack of a better word, and enveloped the immobile body before they both vanished. The body immediately reappeared in front of the dark wizard, but Stan could tell the impalement had already killed the spellcaster.

“Uh,” Richie cleared his throat, “don’t get hit by that weird thing, maybe?”

“Good call,” Stan nodded before getting back on his feet and started chanting. Several stone fists erupted from the walls, aiming at his opponent, only to be blocked by some kind of invisible shield.

“What do you guys want me to do?” Richie asked.

“Try not to let him kill the other two as well,” El said and shot a ray of fire towards the assassin, while Stan started chanting another spell. “And don’t get killed.”

As Stan finished his spell, the rain started pouring as a storm rapidly formed above their heads. El quickly cast a shield on them as a bolt of lightning — the type bright enough to be compared to Richie’s power — immediately stroke the castle with a deafening sound. He could feel the shaking of the palace as the corridor was undoubtedly destroyed, but his ears were ringing and everything was too bright for him to see how much damage he’d done to the place and his opponent. That was the thing about weather magic: they were insanely strong, but also had horrible accuracy if being used offensively, and was extremely difficult to control.

When his vision finally returned, Stan could see that, other than turning their battlefield into a pile of rubble and knocking down everything in the nearby corridor due to the explosive blast of the bolt, his attack had done very little to the dark wizard’s defense. On the bright side, even with the magic shield, the ground underneath the guy was still sizzling as the circle of blood from the dead assa—  _ Wait! _

“He’s trying to summon something,” Stan yelled, but with his ears ringing, his own voice sounded like it had come from underwater. He wasn’t sure if anyone could hear him, so he had to do something about it.  _ A fissure should interrupt his attempt, _ he thought and stepped forward to make sure his opponent was in range, only to be stopped by Richie’s hand on his chest. The raven-haired boy had a panicked look on his face, and too late did Stan spot the reason. Hovering about ten feet in front of them was a bright yellow spot no bigger than a firefly.  _ A delayed fireball, _ his brain provided as he watched the spot expand.

 

* * *

 

Mike knew letting Will leave was a bad decision.

Okay, he hadn’t known it back then, but when the healer didn’t come back a while later, he knew something bad must’ve happened. After all, it shouldn’t have taken this long for his friend to get to the infirmary and back. It was also taking him every ounce in his body not to just sit up and go after the shorter boy, since although he knew the castle was one of the most secure places in the entire kingdom, there were two things in the world he hated more than anything else, which were sitting still while others were risking their lives for him, and letting something dangerous happen to Will. This definitely felt like both.

He had almost made it without sitting up too, but the moment Will barged into his room looking like he was on the verge of breaking down in tears, Mike’s instincts won as he sat up immediately and reached for his sword. Next thing he knew, his gown was soaked in his blood as Eleven’s healing spell backfired and he ended up with a wound on his chest that was undoubtedly three times worse than before, just like the Archmage had warned — although it definitely felt ten times worse than that.

“Mike!” Will’s eyes were filled with panic as the boy dashed towards and carefully laid the King down. The raven-haired boy was definitely grateful for that, no matter how much he was trying to act tough right now. He also hadn’t realized until then that someone else was with the healer.

“Who— Fuck!” He cursed as every breath he took felt like torture. “Who’s your friend?”

“Stop talking,” the shorter boy said with a shaky voice. “We specifically told you not to move. Why the hell did you move?”

Mike wanted nothing more than to answer that question simply as payback for when Will had acted dumb earlier, but the healer’s hands were already trembling, and he was not that cruel. Furthermore, it did hurt a lot just to breathe, so he didn’t think it would be wise to be a dick right now. The other boy had never looked that scared in his life either, so he assumed it was bad. However, the silent pleading Will was sending the stranger confused him slightly. There was no way this guy, whoever he was, could be better than the Head Healer. He didn’t mean that in the ‘I am the King and I always have the best’ way, but more in the ‘Will is the best and no one can beat him’ way. The boy let out a sigh and approached him and—  _ Wait… Is that the guy from the shop this afternoon? What is he doing here? How did he know Will? Why is he putting his hands on my chest and… _

_ Oh… _

_ Oh! _

_ Holy shit! _

Mike’s eyes widened as the guy started glowing, and as he felt better and better, blood started to seep through his new healer’s shirt. He only knew one bloodline that was capable of this, and the one said to have inherited this ability had gone missing a long time ago.

“Dustin told me what he could do,” Will said quietly as the raven-haired boy still tried to find his voice. “Figured he could help you heal the wound, but I never thought you would’ve done something as stupid as moving.”

By the time Mike felt his wound closing completely, the other boy was looking significantly paler, so the tallest teen assumed he was reaching his limits already. He carefully tossed away the bloodied sheets on his bed before letting the brunet lie down — not that the guy’s outfit hadn’t been soaked in his own blood already.

“Prince Edward,” the King cleared his throat, “I don’t know if you remember me, but—”

“It’s Eddie,” the shorter guy huffed and glared at him. “And you really think I could forget your face? Would you forget the face of someone who put you and your whole family in danger?”

“In my defense,” Mike rolled his eyes, “I didn’t exactly plan to be attacked in your shop.”

“Wait, that’s where you were attacked?” Will’s eyes widened. “You guys met each other?”

“I even taught him how to pick fruit,” the other prince turned to Will like they were already best friends. “And what did I get in return? Arrows aiming at our sho—”

“You know, you’re a lot nicer when we first met,” Mike grumbled, interrupting what would undoubtedly be a long rant. If the guy could do this, then maybe he wasn’t that tired after all.

“That was before I got caught in a life-threatening situation,” Eddie said incredulously. “And I’ll let you know, ever since I met you, my life has turned completely batshit crazy.”

“We just met today,” Mike pointed out.

“Well, it has been a crazy day, okay?” The other guy immediately snapped back. “First, our place got attacked. Then,  _ your _ royal advisor and his boyfriend were bleeding to their death on our floor. Then,  _ your _ brother decided to drag—”

“My what?” Mike interrupted, his eyes widened.  _ Did he just say Lucas and Dustin were dying? And did he just—  _ He must’ve misheard or something. There was no way—

“Oh, right, guess who just showed up at the castle and saved me from an assassin.” Will cleared his throat and glanced towards him with a sheepish look. “Dustin brought back more than just one lost prince.”

In the ten heartbeats that Mike took to process everything he’d just been told, the thought that popped up the most often in his head was,  _ Eddie was right. _ This day did sound crazy for everyone. On the bright side, Dustin was strong enough to bring back people, so that meant the advisor and his boyfriend were probably okay.  _ However… _

The King immediately moved to his bedside and grabbed his sword. As he turned around, he almost collided with his friend.

“Mike, no,” Will said, looking frantic. “It’s too dangerous.”

“The more reason for me to be there,” he countered. “Richie is there, Will.”

“Yes, he is,” the shorter boy didn’t look like he was planning to move out of his way. “He and El are taking care of things on the other side of the castle.”

“And what about the Royal Guards?” Mike asked, already knowing something was up. If Will — a healer — had been put in danger, then something must’ve happened to every fighter in this castle. “We’re being attacked. How am I supposed to sit still and do nothing?”

“We aren’t the target, Mike.  _ You _ are,” his best friend raised his voice. “What’s the point of protecting the King if the King shows up at the most dangerous place in the castle?”

“But Will—”

“No, Mike! You have to stay here. This is the safest wing of the palace right now.” The healer was holding his wrist now.

“But—”

“Mike, I’m serious,” Will groaned. “You’re the irreplaceable one here. Please don’t put yourself in danger.”

_ Okay, fuck it. _

If he was being completely honest, Mike was pretty proud of what he’d come up with, even if he wasn’t too proud of the ulterior motive he had for doing it. His free hand quickly moved to Will’s cheek as he leaned in, crashing their lips together. That had certainly stopped the protest.

Kissing Will was magical. It was both new and familiar, gentle and exhilarating. It was everything he’d ever hoped for and more. Unfortunately, his mind wasn’t in the right place to fully appreciate the other boy’s soft lips. The moment he felt the shorter boy’s hand left his wrist, Mike used his power to immediately appear at the door.

“Sorry, Will, but you’re right,” he quickly said before either of the other two boys could register his action. “This is the safest place you can be right now.” With that, the young king closed the door, locking it before running towards the other side of the palace.

 

* * *

 

It was totally Stan’s fault that they couldn’t get away from the blast radius in time.

Under normal circumstances, Richie would’ve been able to spot that tiny dot of flame, but his senses were a bit haywire since the other boy’s lightning had blinded and deafened him, and on top of that, the other boy had just summoned a storm above them. Granted, his power also involved emitting bright pillars of light, but usually, he would be the source, and that was a lot easier on his eyes. However, this time, by the time he got his senses back, the raven-haired boy could barely reach out to stop the warlock before the dot expanded to swallow them whole.

That would’ve worked too if the fire hadn’t been stopped by an invisible dome-shaped shield generating from somewhere behind him, creating a shape that looked like someone had taken a perfect bite from an otherwise perfectly round ball of flame. Based on the burst of light accompanied that shield, he guessed it came from the signet ring that had been passed down through generations in his family.

“After all this time, you still can’t stay out of trouble?” Mike’s voice came from behind him, and he would’ve turned around if he hadn’t felt the need to keep an eye on his opponent in case something like that would happen again.

“I’m not the one whose castle is attacked in the middle of the night, little brother,” Richie countered.

“It’s your castle, too, asshole.”

“I haven’t lived here in five years, Mikey.”

“Not my fault,” his brother grumbled. “And I didn’t think I’d run into you again so soon,” the younger boy said, and for a moment Richie thought Mike was talking to him, until he remembered that Stan had just met the King earlier that day.

“Trust me, this wasn’t what I had in mind when I woke up this morning,” the curly-haired warlock snorted. “And not that I don’t appreciate your shield saving our asses, but do you mind turning it off? I think I can do a better job than that thing.”

In contrast to Richie and Mike’s magic, which came from within and was passed down from their father, Stan, like all spellcasters, drew his magic from ancient sources such as powerful glyphs, magical incantations, and the untapped energy of objects around him. Such magic was blocked by Mike’s ring, which made the other boy and El quite useless around it as long as its power remained active.

“That might be a good idea, Mikey,” Richie said as a glowing blood circle appeared on the ground around the Kolos assassin — or perhaps the blood circle had been there for a while and it only started glowing now — and he could hear the sound of multiple growling creatures surrounding them.

Whatever those things were, he knew they didn’t belong to this world as soon as they jumped at him. The good thing was, the dozen creatures surrounding them were only the size of really big dogs. The bad thing was, they looked like small gorillas with bat heads and freakishly long and sharp claws. “What the fuck are those?” He exclaimed incredulously as his sword failed to slash one. They were also too fast for his liking.

“Would you like to take a moment to name them?” Mike’s voice was dripping with sarcasm. “Split up. Don’t let them surround you.” With that, his brother blinked away, appearing behind one of those creatures and cutting it in half.

Richie soon found out that, in small numbers, these creatures didn’t pose as a challenge. However, it was starting to feel like for each one he cut down, three more got summoned from whatever hell they came from. He and Mike kept popping back and forth, slashing and killing, but it was starting to feel like they were just prolonging the inevitable. Occasionally, Stan and El helped them out with a fireball or a lightning bolt, but those two also had their own opponent to take down, as the constant rumbling kept reminding him.

“Guys?” He yelled over the sound of another explosion. The prince was vaguely aware of the position of his allies, but there weren’t too many opportunities for him to take a break and look around. “Any chance you can stop this stream of demons?”

“What’s wrong, Rich?” Mike shouted from somewhere on his left. “Getting old already?”

“You wish,” he snorted and ducked as another one jumped at him, missing him only by an inch or two. “I just want to join the main party.”

“Less bantering, more slashing,” El scoffed as the rainwater on the ground suddenly turned into sharp spears, impaling several monsters at a time.  _ Five down, one hundred and twenty-five to go. _

“These things were summoned here by blood,” Stan provided, “and in case you didn’t realize, that’s why that guy killed his allies.”

The raven-haired prince grunted as he swung his sword again, killing another two. He was cold and tired and definitely couldn’t keep this up for the whole night — assuming mornings even existed in this place Stan had put all of them in.

Suddenly Richie could smell it — something he would call the distinctive smell of a storm. It was the scent he could always detect when going out to lock things up at the Hanlon farm before a particularly nasty night, and one he’d definitely detected before that lightning strike Stan had created. There wasn’t enough time for him to sound an alarm as the raven-haired boy jumped away from his current position with his eyes closed and hands covering his ears, moments before the next bolt shook the entire castle.

Like all of Richie’s hair, the dark wizard was still standing, much to his dismay, but on the bright side, it seemed like the spellcaster hadn’t been the target of that attack. The corpses of the other assassins, however, were now all burned to a crisp — some were also being buried by the collapsing ceiling, and he could tell why Stan had done that from the fact that the monsters they’d been fighting were now nowhere to be seen.  _ Guess the blood evaporated. _

“Why didn’t you do that sooner?” Richie huffed and turned to the only enemy left in the vicinity.

“You try to control the weather with that guy attacking you,” the blond guy grumbled. “What do you think I’ve been doing?”

“Do you think you can save the arguing for after we finish him off?” Mike groaned.

“I thought you love a challenge, Mike?” El huffed as she worked her magic, and an icicle spear shot forward, colliding with a wall of water that had magically shot up from the ground and freezing it immediately. The wall of ice then exploded, shooting ice shards towards the four of them, only missing him because he’d jumped away.

“You know, I can have your head for that tone alone,” his brother said, making him roll his eyes. Mike hadn’t changed at all, even in his empty threats. That was one of the things that would make Richie a worse king — he would definitely abuse his powers for fun, while his brother had more self-control than that. It wasn’t like he would get someone in serious trouble on purpose, but he’d rather act first and deal with the consequence later.

Which, unfortunately, was what he did this time, and it was a mistake. They were fighting four-on-one now instead of four-on-one-hundred like before, with two of them being able to jump through space, and for some odd reason, nobody had suggested closing the distance despite spellcasters being infamously bad at close-ranged combat. However, the moment the raven-haired prince used his power to appear behind their opponent, shadow hands shot out from the assassin’s pitch black robe, wrapping around his wrists, his throat, and anywhere they could reach. These hands looked like they were made from pure darkness, but Richie was pretty sure darkness wouldn’t be able to choke him like this.

“King Michael,” the assassin turned to him, with yellow eyes cold as ice and a voice that made him shiver, “or is it Prince Richard? Doesn’t matter, really, since your foolish action will result in the end of both of you, and I will finally have the whole set.” It was impossible for him to throw kicks and punches, or even come up with a good comeback when he could neither move nor speak. Not to mention, these things were keeping him ten feet away from the dark wizard, so even if he could move his limbs, there was no way he could reach this asshole. The raven-haired boy was aware that someone — probably El — was shooting lightning bolts at them, but there was a shield blocking all spells by his friends, so they wouldn’t be able to help him anyway.

Another pillar of light appeared right next to them, and Mike’s sword managed to cut off the hand that was on his throat before his brother was also restrained by the shadowy things. Richie thought this might happen, but he’d actually hoped that, of all people, the fucking king of this land would do something smarter than blindly charging in and letting himself be captured as well. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the gesture, but his brother was an idiot.

“Did you seriously just do that?” He said as soon as he finished gasping for air. “You literally saw what happened to me.”

“How about a simple  _ ‘thank you,’ _ huh?” Mike shot back. “You know, for saving your life?”

“Oh, is  _ this _ what you called ‘saving my life’ now?” Richie rolled his eyes. “You know your ring can dispel magic, right?”

“Not  _ all _ magic, asshole,” his brother grumbled. “Whatever this thing is, it’s the same kind of magic we have.”

“Well, isn’t that nice?” The assassin interrupted before Richie could continue. “Rushing in to save your brother with the hope that your heirloom can ward off my power?”

“I actually suspected that your extra limbs wouldn’t be affected by my ring,” Mike glared at their captor.

“Wait,” Richie’s eyes widened, “so you were aware that it was a suicide plan?”

“At least I’m gonna take this guy down with me,” Mike shot back. “What was  _ your _ plan?”

“And pray tell, King Michael,” the dark wizard said in his creepy voice, “how are you going to take me down?”

Turned out, Mike didn’t have to explain it to anyone, since the way the assassin’s eyes widened told Richie that the guy had also smelled it. The electric scent filled the air once again, and he finally understood what his brother was trying to do. These shadows might be immune to the ring, but the assassin’s shield wasn’t, and even though it was aimed using magic, Stan’s attack was completely natural. El probably played a role in making sure the range of the ring encompassed this son of a bitch.

He barely managed to close his eyes when the lightning struck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Have something you want to say to me about it? Let me know in the comments.
> 
> The next chapter will be the last one, and I really hope you'll like what I have in store. 
> 
> Which characters' POV do you think you'll get to see in the last chapter? I'm not asking for suggestions, since I might have already finished writing this, but it's nice to know what you think as well.
> 
> The last chapter will definitely be up before March. Until then (or until I post/update something else).


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is it. The last chapter of this journey. 
> 
> This has been sitting in my drive for almost two weeks now. Figured it's time to end this long-ass journey.
> 
> Like usual, enjoy!

Max was still slightly confused about what exactly had happened.

When she’d thought about waking up to her girlfriend, she’d imagined them both in bed cuddling in the morning before she had to leave for her daily duties. She definitely hadn’t imagined being shaken awake on the castle’s cold floor, with Dustin and Lucas surrounding them. Apparently, all hell had broken loose in her slumber, with Bev and Richie being friends, Lucas and Dustin stumbling into their house in a half-dead state, and Bev’s gang helping them defend the castle. On the bright side, it was nice to know practicing archery with her girlfriend hadn’t been for naught. On the other hand, she’d been asleep on the job, literally, when the kingdom was under attack. Another not-so-bright side had been Dustin’s I-told-you-so look that she had no doubt would go on for another week or two.

According to the three, both Richie and El had ordered them to stay away from the battlefield, and that had been when she knew that not only things had gone bad, but also it would’ve been impossible to deal with the threat without magic. She would’ve followed that order, too, if Will hadn’t run past them cursing —  _ actually cursing _ — about Mike locking him in the bedchamber before something making Eddie — whoever that had been — disappear. One look at Dustin and Lucas had told her they’d come to the same conclusion: if somehow Will was held captive, the King would risk anything to save the healer. That was why they’d gone after their friend.

When they had gotten to where the battle was supposed to take place, Max hadn’t found anything other than several unconscious assassins and a fuming auburn boy named Bill — whom everyone else had agreed would become a Royal Guard soon — going on a rant about how someone called Stan had teleported everyone else somewhere, leaving him there alone. How that event had transpired had been identical to what Will had described, so the Head of the Royal Guard assumed that Stan had been behind that as well. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on what one’s goal had been, they couldn’t have done anything but wait. It definitely hadn’t been easy, but she’d been trained to trust the King and her peers, which had led to where they were right now.

“Ouch! Will,” Mike whined, “be careful.”

“Oh,  _ now _ he thinks about being careful,” Will scowled. “Where was that thought when you gave yourself to the one person who wanted you dead earlier?”

They hadn’t had to wait for too long before five shadowy figures slowly shimmered into existence, two of whom Max had assumed to be Eddie and Stan. El and the taller boy had been the only two with enough strength to stand, even if they’d also looked on the verge of collapsing. The boy had immediately slumped down next to his friend, and Will and Bill had immediately rushed towards the royalty.

“That was different!” Mike protested. “That was the only thing I could think of to save Richie.”

“Don’t drag me into this,” the other twin huffed. “I wasn’t the one charging in with a half-baked— Ouch! Bill!”

“You were the one charging in with no plan whatsoever,” the auburn boy grumbled. “You’re in no position to chide your brother.”

According to El, Richie had gotten himself captured, and Mike, with his idiotic heroism, had decided to put himself in danger to save his brother. On the bright side, Stan’s attack had been a direct hit, but the energy of the blast had also caused serious damage to the two royal pains in the ass, and even though Eddie had healed their worst wounds, the short brunet didn’t have the energy to do anything else anymore.

“I saw an opening and I took the risk,” Richie argued. “Not my fault it just happened to be a trap.”

“With an enemy  _ that _ strong, just assume that everything is a trap,” Stan — the tall curly blond — said with an unimpressed look. “Shouldn’t you have been taught not to underestimate your opponent when you were younger?”

“As if he would’ve ever sat down long enough to hear that,” Max rolled her eyes.

“The impudence! The betrayal!” The Prince wailed dramatically. “What about all the time we spent together, Maxie? What about— Ouch! Bill!”

“Shut up and let me treat you!” The other boy grumbled. “You’re lucky Eddie still had enough strength to fix you up.”

“And for that, I’ll be forever indebted to Eds,” Richie said and blew the short brunet a kiss.

“Not my name, asshole,” Eddie —  _ Prince Edward of Avenia _ — huffed. “And don’t expect me to heal anyone up until, like, next year.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Will said bashfully, “for hel—”

“Don’t call me that, either,” the lost prince scrunched his face. “Prince Edward is dead. I’m Eddie.”

“Don’t worry,” Mike sent the other boy a weak smile. “Your secret is safe with— Will! Go easy on me, please!”

“Oh, you want me to go easy on you?” The healer was fuming. “After what you did? Who even does that?”

“You wouldn’t have let me go otherwise,” the King winced.

“So you just suddenly came up with the brilliant idea to use our first kiss like that?”

_ What did Will just say? _

“Technically that wa—”

“Wait, what?”

“He  _ what? _ ”

“Mike, what the fu—”

“What?”

Almost everyone’s eyes — that was to say, everyone but Eddie, who had barely reacted to anything ever since Stan had pulled him into his lap — were on Mike now, with various degrees of surprise. For a moment, nobody made a sound as everyone who knew the two tried to process the information, while the rest were… Well, Max didn’t really know what the rest of them were thinking. Then suddenly, Eleven walked towards the King and hit him hard in the arm.

“That was not what I meant when I told you to get your shit together and you know it,” she huffed.

“You idiot,” Lucas groaned. “Can’t believe you’d pull something like that.”

“Nice job, Mikey,” Richie whistled. “Took you long enough but I’m still impressed.”

“Technically it wasn’t my idea,” Mike mumbled, his cheeks started darkening.

“Whose idea was it, then?” Max raised an eyebrow at her friend.

“Well—”

“Let me guess,” Lucas interrupted, “babe?”

As everyone turned to Dustin, it was the advisor’s turn to blush. “What?” He scowled. “I’m his advisor. We tell each other everything.”

“And pray, tell,” Lucas grumbled, “how did the conversation get to that topic?”

“Well,” the curly-haired boy bit his lips, “it might have happened when he asked me to distract you so he could do the slug prank?”

In Max’s opinion, it was kind of funny how Dustin had the audacity to look only mildly guilty when his boyfriend was looking like he’d just been stabbed in the back — which she supposed, in a way, he had.

“You were in on that?” The boy asked incredulously.

“In his defense,” Mike cleared his throat, “he’s my advisor. He’s supposed to be in on all my schemes.”

“Plus,” Dustin sent Lucas an impish grin, “it was kind of funny.”

“Why am I even friends with you two?”

“Because you love us?” Mike offered with a smirk.

“And because of this,” Dustin said before yanking his boyfriend closer, and Max barely managed to let out a groan before their lips crashed against each other. Granted, that was the curly-haired boy’s most effective way to shut his boyfriend up, but it always escalated.

Everyone else also had to endure the awkwardness for a moment before Mike cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention away from the couple. “So, you said it was our first,” the boy turned to Will. “Does that mean I can get more?”

As a response, the shorter boy tightened the piece of cloth he was using to dress the King’s wound, eliciting a loud groan from the other boy.

“Great,” Richie huffed, “now everyone gets to be lovey-dovey around me. Bev, come here!”

“That’s a hard pass, Rich,” Max’s girlfriend snorted. “Nice try, though.”

“Would you just sit still?” Bill complained.

“Eddie, my love! What do you say if we strengthen the bond between our kingdoms?” The Prince immediately turned to the other side, facing his two other friends. Eddie didn’t even bother to respond as he stared right back while wrapping Stan’s arms around him.

“Richie,  _ please, _ I’m trying to—”

“What about you, Max?” The raven-haired idiot turned to her. “Wanna ditch your girl for a real prince?”

“That’s it!” Bill groaned before letting go of the bandage he was holding, and Max watched as the auburn boy grabbed Richie’s face and crashed their lips together.

The Prince definitely hadn’t expected it, nor had he had any idea what to do, and it was quite obvious from the look on the raven-haired boy’s face. Richie’s eyes were wide open, his cheeks were beet red, and it seemed like the guy was holding his breath and trying not to move lest he shatter whatever was happening. However, unlike with Dustin and Lucas, this kiss didn’t last very long. Nonetheless, the desired effect was still there: when Bill pulled away, Richie’s mouth was slightly open but no sound came out of it. If only the guy had done that a while ago.

“Now stay still so I can finish patching you up,” the auburn boy grumbled, his eyes fixated on Richie’s wound as his face turned beet red. The other boy nodded dumbly as he stared at his whatever-they-were-now.

Chuckling softly, Max turned away when her eyes landed on Bev, who was raising an eyebrow at her.  _ Come here, _ she mouthed and watched her girlfriend slowly approach her with a smirk.

“Okay, I’m leaving,” El groaned, and the two girls laughed out loud.

 

* * *

 

Not even in his wildest dreams had Ben thought he would be able to stand in the Royal Kitchen one day. Yet here he was, showing twenty other people the correct way to prepare for the third Feast of the Five Kings. It was exciting, challenging, and nerve-wracking, all in a single package.

“Hey, Ben,” Will greeted as he walked past the kitchen towards the back door. “I’m heading out. Do you need anything?”

“Not really,” he shook his head and smiled, “but can you ask around to see when that merchant ship returns from Malakia? It should arrive the day after tomorrow, but there’s always the possibility that they’ll be a day or two late because of a storm or something.”

“Sure thing,” the shorter boy nodded before rounding the corner.

He knew that the Head Healer wasn’t just a nobody in the castle, but he hadn’t anticipated how much the King valued the guy’s opinion. That, combined with the endorsement of Richie of all people, had been enough to score him a chance to be a Royal Cook. Fortunately, both the King and the Advisor had loved his cooking, so he was also in charge of one of the main feasts.

It was mind-blowing, how much things could change in just a single week. First of all, he’d learned that two of his friends were princes, and another one was a warlock. Next, their house had been visited by the King three more times since the attack, and he’d had the chance to interact with even more royalty. Richie and Eddie still lived with them, but King Michael had made his brother promise to visit the castle every few days, at least during this time when he couldn’t sneak out. Prince Richard was still dead, so Richie would have to use either the back door or whichever path Lucas was guarding that day. They’d also been invited to the palace to dine once, but that had been before all the other kings and queens had arrived.

Bill was starting his official Royal Guard training the moment the Council Meeting ended. According to Bev, who’d heard from Max herself, his friend would probably not have to be in training for long. Although, that didn’t matter too much since it wasn’t like they were in need of money or anything.

“Sir,” a Royal Guard interrupted him, “delivery from Hanlon farm has arrived.”

“Thanks, Sarah,” he smiled and headed towards a door to the backyard, which, weirdly enough, wasn’t called the back door, “I’ll handle it.”

Since both King Michael and Will loved the products from Mike’s farm, they had also become one of the providers for the palace, which, combined with what his new job paid and Bill’s future income, meant they wouldn’t have to worry about money ever again. Their shop was still open, though, but it was mostly for their regular customers. Mike had said he wished his parents could see what they all had become, to which Ben had replied that maybe they did.

“Hey, Ben,” Bev grinned once he was in the yard, “when are you coming home today? Mike is making ratatouille.”

That was probably the most important change in Ben’s life. He and Mike were a couple now. Of course, he’d had feelings for the other guy for a while now, and of course, he knew Mike liked him too, but they hadn’t officially made a move before that night on the roof. It had only been a week, and it was already the best thing that had ever happened to him, this castle be damned.

“I’m gonna be home quite late,” he shook his head. “Have to get everything ready for tomorrow.”

“Guess we’ll save you some, then,” the redhead chuckled.

“You know, I’m a Royal Cook,” Ben reminded his friend. “Shouldn’t I be the one bringing you guys food from the palace?”

“Please,” the girl snorted, “we all know you love Mike’s cooking. Plus, we’ll get to dine in the palace again after this thing’s over anyway.”

“That happened once,” he reminded Bev.

“And everyone loved it,” his friend countered. “I know you know it’s gonna happen again. Mikey seems like a great guy.”

Ben’s eyes widened at how bold the girl was being. “Beverly! You can’t call the King that!” He whisper-shouted.

“Please, who’s gonna arrest me? You?”

“I might,” Max’s voice interrupted the two of them, and Ben watched as Beverly’s eyes lit up the moment they landed on the other girl. “What’s my beautiful thief doing?”

“Stealing your cook,” Bev smirked. “Is that allowed?”

“I don’t think it’s called stealing if he’s more yours than ours,” the Head of the Royal Guards snorted.

“So, how’s work?” Bev asked, and immediately got a groan as an answer.

“It’s like having a dozen extra toddlers to look after,” Max scrunched her nose. “I thought Mike was already bad.”

“Really?” Bev raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think he’s bad at all. And toddlers can be cute.”

“Trust me, not these ones,” the other girl shook her head. “And what do you mean he’s not bad? He sneaks out of the castle all the time. How am I supposed to keep him safe if he doesn’t follow the rules that were made for that?”

“Be glad he’s not Richie, then,” Bev laughed. “So I don’t suppose you have too much free time before this whole thing is over, do you?”

“No,” Max gave her girlfriend a sad smile, before turning it into a mischievous one. “But when this whole thing is over, it’s gonna be  _ my _ turn to steal you.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?” Bev raised an eyebrow.

“How about a bit of both?” Max smirked before turning around. “Anyway, gotta go now. Bye Princess! Bye Ben!”

“Bye Max,” Ben laughed. “Thanks for remembering I’m here.”

“Please,” the girl snorted, “we’re not Dustin and Lucas.”

“Almost as bad as us, though,” the Head Archer’s voice came from somewhere above him.

“Fuck you, Sinclair!”

“No, thanks! Already got Dustin for that.”

“Ew! Stop talking!”

The moment Ben and Bev looked at each other, they burst out laughing.

 

* * *

 

A bright column of light outside the balcony caught Dustin’s attention. Since Mike was already in the room with him, going through all the documents, policies, and agreements they’d made in the last couple of days, he had a pretty good idea who’d just arrived outside the King’s balcony in the middle of the night.

“Finally,” Richie groaned as he walked inside, followed by Stan, “I thought those eggheads were gonna stay for an extra moon or something.”

“Those  _ eggheads _ are the other kings and queens of the council,” the advisor reminded the other boy, “and our strongest allies, Richie.”

“Why are you here, Rich?” Mike asked with a yawn, not even bothering to look away from the document he was reading.

“Can’t I just miss my little brother?” The other twin asked with a grin.

“C’mon, Trashmouth,” this time, it was Stan who let out a snort. “We both know they’re smarter than that. You’ll have to do better.”

“But what if they’re not, Staniel?” Richie countered. “It’s in the dead of night, and they’re tired. Maybe they’re not thinking straight.”

“Exactly,” Mike groaned. “It’s in the dead of night, on the very day the other countries left this kingdom, so whatever made you come here at this hour was definitely not me. Can you just get to the point already?”

“Yeah, about that,” the raven-haired boy chuckled, “what’s this little arrangement, boys? I thought I’d be interrupting you and Will.” The Prince then turned towards Dustin. “And you, shouldn’t you be with Lucas right now? Are you guys having an affair?”

Usually, Dustin would’ve loved Richie’s company, but his definition of ‘usual’ definitely didn’t include when he still had to work late at night after what had already been a long day. The advisor only stared at his friend for a while with the most unimpressed look he could muster. “Can I stab him?” He finally asked.

“Sure,” Mike said nonchalantly, “but if he bleeds, you’re cleaning that up.”

“Alright, alright,” Richie raised his hands up. “Fine, if you’re  _ that _ much of a buzzkill.”

“Try talking politics for a whole week,” Mike snorted. “Then we’ll discuss what qualifies as a buzzkill.”

“I want to talk to you about what happened in the mirror place, or whatever it was called,” the Prince said, his tone suddenly turned serious.

That was probably his cue to let them talk in private. After all, he hadn’t even been to that place they wanted to talk about. “Okay, then,” he said, trying to suppress a yawn, “I’ll leave you to it—”

“No, stay,” Richie quickly interrupted. “You probably should hear this, too.”

“Is that why Stan’s here as well?” Mike asked as he started putting away the documents.

“Nah, I’m his safe passage home,” the warlock shrugged. “Wouldn’t want to draw attention to the bright flash in front of our place, would we?”

“Smart,” Dustin nodded. “So, what is it you want to talk about?”

“Remember back there when I was captured by the assassin?” Richie asked, and they all mumbled a ‘Yeah’ as a response. Technically, Dustin wasn’t there to remember, but he’d heard this story, so he knew how things ended. “So, when I was captured, that guy said he would kill both of us, and he would finally have the whole set.”

The advisor could feel the shift in the air around them as those last words were spoken, which, considering what he’d just heard, was the only possible outcome. “What are you implying, Rich?”

“I’m not implying anything,” the older twin shrugged. “I’m just repeating his words.”

“So you think that he implied he killed your parents,” Stan said, more of a statement than a question.

“That would mean Kolos was behind—”

“But they weren’t,” Mike interrupted in a tired voice. “Our parents’ ship got caught in a storm. The guard said it himself.”

“But the other guard swore there was a sea monster,” Richie frowned. “You saw those shadow tentacles. How hard would it have been to make it look like a sea monster’s attack? Plus, you saw the storm Stan whipped up. Do you actually think that asshole wouldn’t be able to do something like that?”

“What do you want me to say, Richie?” Mike sighed. “That you’re right? That Kolos might be behind our parents’ death? It was a plausible assumption, but it was still only an assumption.”

“Not if that guy admitted to—”

“And what if he did do it?”

“What do you  _ mean _ what if he did? Mike, that—”

“He meant, do you want to start a war?” Dustin interrupted before Richie’s voice got loud enough for others to hear. As much as it pained him to admit it, Mike was right. “Do you want to shed our people’s blood, innocent Kolos people’s blood, just to get revenge on the people who ordered that attack?”

He could see from the way the other boy’s jaw tightened that the Prince knew where this conversation was heading. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing when—”

“But we already did something,” Mike said. “We killed the guy who killed our parents. His body was burned to a crisp. Even if somehow he managed to resurrect himself later, you heard what El said. Anything not alive in that place when the gem broke got trapped there forever. We had our revenge.”

“Not against the people who ordered it.”

“I know, but I’m not putting innocent people’s lives at risk for our family’s vendetta.”

“Richie,” Dustin sighed, “just look at it this way, okay? It’s hard enough for me to track down your boyfriend’s brother as it is. Do you want to put a war on top of it as well?”

The Prince was quiet for a while before clearing his throat. “So, how’s that going?”

“Progressing,” he shrugged. “Last I checked, my sources had some leads, but this isn’t the kind of thing you can get the answer in a week.”

The other boy nodded, and there was more silence before he continued. “How can you guys just pretend you don’t know it?”

“Oh, trust me, we can’t,” Dustin snorted. “Mikey has been grumpy every single year on the anniversary of your death.”

“I’m right here, you know,” the King huffed.

“Well, you weren’t here two weeks ago, when you let me deal with your responsibilities,” the advisor countered before turning back to Richie. “Anyway, sometimes you just have to sacrifice for the greater good, like how you gave up being a king because you thought you wouldn’t be able to do it. How ironic, am I right?”

That managed to elicit a small chuckle from the older twin.

 

* * *

 

He’d underestimated the brats. That wasn’t gonna happen again.

He’d barely managed to switch places with one of the corpses when the lightning struck, but the sheer energy of the blast had still wounded him badly. Nonetheless, he’d still managed to hide and let them think he was dead, as they dispelled the magic that had kept him from getting more hostages.

When planning the attack, he hadn’t anticipated the arrival of the warlock, or the very much still breathing and kicking Prince Richard. He’d thought about almost every possible outcome, yet he’d never thought about them becoming twice as strong.

Of course, he had to rest and recover from the damage he’d taken. Of course, this might take a while. However, next time, he’d burn this fucking country to the ground. That was a promise, and Bob Gray never went back on his promises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Expecting something more? Something less? Tell me all in the comments below.
> 
> This is officially my second finished work with more than one chapter. You have no idea how happy _and_ sad I am whenever it happens.
> 
> One of those who had early access to this already asked me to write the sequel. What do you think? Let me know in your comments as well.
> 
> Finally, I hope I'll see you again in my other fics.

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me @[trashmouthdiangelo](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/trashmouthdiangelo) on tumblr.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Small thanks to @[castrateyourhumanpride](https://archiveofourown.org/users/castrateyourhumanpride), @[shewasthewind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewasthewind/), and @[trashmouthTM](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deasar/pseuds/trashmouthTM) for proofreading this, and my other WIPs as well.


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